La Pointe courte

This intoxicating feature debut from Varda is often cited as one of the very first manifestations of nouvelle vague tropes, mixing a loose, realist depiction of the impoverished populace of the titular Southern fishing community with a hyperstylised chronicle of a marriage (between a youthful Noiret and Monfort) in terminal decline. What the skilful smelting of these two opposing styles (with Alain Resnais on editing duties) yields in terms of originality and visual novelty, it doesn’t quite achieve in emotional cohesiveness, as the link between the two ‘stories’ feels mercilessly obscure at best. Yet as first movies go, this is a remarkably assured, gutsy and conceptually ostentatious piece of filmmaking.