La Pointe Courte is a miracolous film. For the fact that it exists and for its style. For its existence, because maybe we need to go back to Sang d’un poète to find a film that is so free, in its conception, from every commercial contingency. Jean Cocteau had simply benefited from a rich benefactor. Those times, unfortunately, are gone. A sound film is too expensive to make, even for the ambitions of a billionaire! Agnès Varda is a young woman, whose talent as a photographer for T.N.P. was renowned and who simply felt the need to make this film. She convinced some friends to work with her, and this is how La Pointe Courte came to be: with not much money but a lot of courage, imagination and talent. This first miracle influenced the second. By this I mean that the complete freedom in style gives us such a rare feeling, to be at the cinema watching a film that only obeys the will of the director without relying on external factors. If La Pointe Courte is an avant-garde film, it is not in the real sense of the word, which is always confused with the followers of surrealism, or to say the least, with the decomposition of anecdotes or storytelling. Agnès Varda’s story is the most simple in the world, and it is a love story. […] It naturally brings to mind Rossellini’s Journey to Italy (which obviously could not have influenced Agnès Varda for chronological reasons), where there is a similar counterpoint between the heroes’ feelings and the human and geographical environment. This affinity honours both films. However, Agnès Varda’s film is quite different in terms of tone and technique. First and foremost it is a film by a woman, in the same way you recognize a book is written by a woman, and this creates something rather unique in film. Then the director takes something relating to the images for granted. In this respect, maybe Agnès Varda has not quite forgotten her talent as a photographer. On the other hand, the dialogue is admirable. Her heroes only say the essential things, like the words that come out in dreams.

André Bazin, Un film libre et pur, “Le Parisien libéré”, January 7, 1956