You can delineate the career of Agnès Varda into various areas (rather than stages, since they often had significant overlap and even occurred concurrently in some spaces) – there are her human dramas that are often driven by a sweetly sentimental sense of individuality, her socially-charged documentary shorts, and her full-length non-fiction pieces that often served to be as much about the director as the subjects she was so fascinated with. Varda was always so invested in whatever material she was working with, whether it be a text, an idea or simply a feeling derived from her keen understanding of the human condition. However, there are a few films that feature similar conversations, but aren’t often brought up in discussions towards her best work, mainly since they occurred in awkward spaces between more notable chapters of her career. Kung-Fu Master! (French: Le petit amour) is barely anywhere close to Varda’s peak as a filmmaker, especially since it occurred between two of her most successful narrative-driven films, Vagabond and Jacquot de Nantes. It’s also a film that is difficult to talk about by virtue of the subject matter, with the story of a middle-aged woman falling in love with a teenage boy not being a premise that many would find particularly appealing. However, Varda is not a filmmaker to take anything for granted, and while Kung-Fu Master! hasn’t particularly held up as a definitive entry into her masterful canon of creation, it’s still absolutely worth the time and space it takes up, being a delightfully irreverent film that blends psychological drama with good-natured comedy and a dash of romance (albeit not in the form we’d expect), to the proceedings of a sweet and charming little film about someone trying to come to terms with their own individuality in a world where it is far easier to just simmer down and follow conventions.

Varda’s films, whether they were narrative features or documentaries, all shared one common quality – they were about humanity, in many different forms. Kung-Fu Master! follows the natural progression of some of the themes Varda was interested in exploring, particularly those of motherhood and ageing, which she had been looking at for a few years prior to this film, but which entered a new stage with this beautifully poetic account of a woman trying to find her place in a world that is governed by preconceived notions of what someone in her position should aspire to be. Produced concurrently with Varda filming Jane B. par Agnès V.,her experimental semi-documentary portrait of actress and model Jane Birkin (who had been a muse for many artists and designers over the years), this film functions as something of a spontaneous series of moments woven around Birkin as an actress. Playing the part of Mary-Jane, who is searching for some meaning in a world she constantly fails to understand on a purely fundamental level, Birkin’s collaboration with Varda results in a beautifully simple film that is loosely-structured in a way that allows it to flourish into an achingly beautiful portrait of modern femininity, at a time when these issues were explored in new and exciting ways. Varda was certainly not a stranger to this form of storytelling, and Kung-Fu Master! afforded her the chance to use her stature in the industry to wrangle together some impressive collaborators – but it’s in films like this, where she reduces everything to be most basic essentials, that we find her operating at her peak. The simplicity of the narrative, guided by the assured vision of a filmmaker who was intent on exploring the depths of womanhood through a very different kind of narrative that would not have worked had it not been for her steadfast commitment to the medium, is quite impressive and elevates the film far beyond a saccharine melodrama with overtones of controversy.

It takes some time to acclimate to Kung-Fu Master!, which is in many ways just as experimental as anything else Varda was doing at the time. Varda was constantly tinkering with the medium, both visually and in terms of narrative, intent on extending it to its limits, and then some. This film in particular gets its merits from the overall feeling of intimacy that comes as a result of its simple structure – there isn’t much to the film that can be considered deviant in terms of how it is put together, with the narrative progressing with natural ease, only being radically different when it comes to exploring the actual subject matter, which is handled with tact and elegance. Kung-Fu Master! is not a film that glamorizes the relationship between an adult woman and a teenager, so the surface-level reading that comes from seeing the synopsis is quite misleading, since Varda isn’t presenting this as a tale of lust or desire, but rather an intergenerational love story about two people finding each other in the midst of a hostile world. The character of Mary-Jane is not in love with Julien so much as she is in love with the idea of him, and what he represents – she is growing older, sinking into the state of almost becoming a spinster again, after having been abandoned by her husband. Her oldest daughter is distancing herself from her mother both emotionally and physically as a result of her own journey into maturity – so for a brief moment, Mary-Jane sees something powerful in the youthful ignorance of a young man, who represents everything she sees in herself. Varda knows exactly how to show restraint, and she outright refuses to cross any boundary that could be misconstrued as inappropriate. She understands the limitations of such a story, and also shows how she isn’t necessarily inclined to agree with Mary-Jane’s perspective, which is often shown to be hubristic and vaguely maniacal in how her obsession grows. It’s a powerful portrait of a woman trying her best not to unravel, even if it means giving in to the unstable curiosities that she feels can help her resolve the quandaries that have been gradually growing over the years.

Kung-Fu Master! is a film about attempting to recapture the spark of youth, and the gradual realization that the past isn’t always able to be recreated, at least not in the way that we imagine it would be. Varda and Birkin are in perfect tandem here, crafting a touching story of identity in the midst of a hostile social environment, and the challenges that come when we dare to step outside the preconceived standards of what is considered normal and acceptable. There is so much more to Kung-Fu Master! than just the intergenerational love story – this is a fervent call to arms for the lost generation, the people who find themselves caught in a changing world that wasn’t willing to wait for them, and who had to scramble to put together a life for themselves, or risk having whatever legacy they have disappearing completely. The charms of this film reside in the smallest moments, those which come about when we are least expecting it – and Varda’s camera is used to write the story of a woman working through her existential angst through a variety of internal conversations she has, justifying her decisions – although in a way that doesn’t make them seem acceptable. Varda wasn’t averse to showing her characters’ flaws, never being afraid of forming them around more unlikeable qualities, since it indicates authenticity, which was always what the director strove to achieve across all of her films. Led with conviction by Birkin, and becoming a family affair (with Birkin and Varda casting their own children as the co-leads in the film, and Birkin’s own parents having small roles in the film as well), Kung-Fu Master! is such a delightfully honest film that isn’t ever afraid to express itself with a spirited candour that conceals a darker perspective on broader issues.

Beautifully internal, and told with a simple honesty that we’ve come to expect from Varda, Kung-Fu Master! is an absolute triumph. It’s far from definitive of the director’s long and storied career, but that’s more a testament to her longevity and the quality with which she was known to work, rather than any weakness found in this film. It’s a beautifully poetic film that cuts to the core of what makes her such a compelling filmmaker – everything she does is executed with a delightfully honest precision that we don’t often see in more superficially-minded filmmakers. Varda had very little problem reducing her films to the bare essentials, looking at humanity from a perspective where both its merits and shortcomings were glaringly obvious, which gives her films a distinct authenticity, since they balance both positive and negative aspects of the stories that drive them. Kung-Fu Master! is a challenging film insofar as it doesn’t flow in the way we’d expect such films would – the comedy is there, but is far more gentle, and the boldest ideas are those that are slightly more abstract, which only lends the film an added level of legitimacy, since there is something quite peculiar about the way in which Varda and Birkin tell this story. Yet, even below some of the stranger qualities associated with this approach, the film is a masterful exploration of a woman’s journey, and proof that even in the depths of middle-age, it’s perfectly reasonable (and perhaps encouraged) to continue learning, since our education never really stops – and the beautiful moments that punctuate the film and give it depth are so intricate and beautifully woven-together, it’s impossible to not fall in love with the intimately beautiful world Varda weaves for us throughout the course of this compelling film.