Agnes Varda, one of the major French film-makers of the last 40 years, is here celebrated by Alison Smith, by examining both the early films and the later successes, such as "Sans toit ni loi" (1985), "Jane B. par Agnes V." (1987) and "Jacquot de Nantes" (1991). Smith considers Varda's films in the light of her constant attention to film form, and process an integrated analysis of several major themes in her work, through a detailed study of her best-known or most significant films, which are then set in context against her lesser-known but very extensive oeuvre. The themes cover such issues as representation of place and community, representation of women and the use of memory, and are linked by a common concern with the process by which Varda transforms reality into constructed films. They owe their form to the combined subjectivities of the film-maker,the subjects filmed and the audience.