Les Créatures
| Les Créatures | |
|---|---|
| Directed by: | Agnès Varda |
| Written by: | Agnès Varda |
| Starring: | Catherine Deneuve, Michel Piccoli, and Lucien Bodard |
| Music by: | Pierre Barbaud and Henry Purcell |
| Edited by: | Janine Verneau |
| Released: | September 3, 1966 (France), December 9, 1969 (USA) |
| Run Time: | 92 minutes |
| Country of Origin: | France |
| Original Language: | French |
Les Créatures is a 1966 film by Agnès Varda that recounts a story of a couple who have just moved to a new town and been in a car accident. The wife, Mylène Piccoli, has lost her voice in the accident and communicates through writing. The husband, Edgar Piccoli, is a science fiction writer working to produce his next book.
Les Créatures was an official selection of the Venice film festival, though it received mixed reviews. The film failed commercially.
Agnès Varda later recycled the leftover film stock from the film as the basis for her Ma Cabane de l’Échec (My Shack of Failure). Ma Cabane was made from film stock directly from the distribution copy and rearranged to form the structure of a cabin.
Les Créatures opens with Mylène and Edgar Piccoli driving down an empty road. Mylène expresses concern over how quickly Edgar is driving, but he refuses to slow down. Edgar defends his driving speed, stating that when he goes fast, his ideas also go fast. He describes how happy the two will be while living in a seaside house and going on long walks. Mylène agrees with Edgar, but asks him once more to slow down. Edgar does not, and shortly thereafter crashes into a tree.
We see that Edgar has survived the crash and is passing time watching the tide come in as he stands on an elevated platform located on an isolated beach. A man drives past and offers Edgar a ride, saying that he will have to wait eight hours to leave otherwise. Edgar passes the ride up and instead watches the tide from the platform.
Edgar is seen beginning to write a book in scenes that are interspersed with his travels around his new town. In these travels, he passes by a house with a stone tower on property that is marked “off limits.” There is a solitary figure standing atop the tower, though the two do not interact. Edgar visits a store run by a woman and her daughter. Once Edgar leaves, the daughter remarks that he scared her, but the mother defends him, describing him as quiet but polite. While Edgar is in the outdoor market, Max and Pierre, two linen vendors, take particular note of him
As Edgar drives home, Max and Pierre, who have blocked the road, stop him. The two proceed to fake a fight, and when Edgar intervenes, they cover him with a sheet rigged to rip. When it does, Max and Pierre insist that Edgar pays 50 francs for it. In the following scene, the vendors are seen talking to the shopkeeper and explaining that they feel something is amiss with Edgar.
Max and Pierre then harass Edgar at his home, while he is attempting to enjoy time with his pregnant wife Mylène, who has been rendered mute by the wreck. Edgar is able to drive the two off, but the next time he leaves the house, he finds a pile of sheets next to a dead cat.
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