Often criticized for its flat portrayals of women as sexual objects and seductresses, the French New Wave was nevertheless populated by strong and whip-smart women who were playing the game. Leading the troupe was the Belgian-born French director Agnès Varda, who, at five feet tall and never without her signature bob, coined her own cinematic approach—cinécriture (cine writing)—in which every part of a film is selected like the words in a literary text. And she didn’t stop at that. Varda made fictional movies, yes, but also dipped her toes in documentary work, visual art, and photography. Film Forum now honors her with a comprehensive retrospective, showing everything from Cléo From 5 to 7 (1962) to The Gleaners and I (2000) and The Word of Jacques Demy (1995)—the latter about the director who was her husband of 28 years. —Jeanne Malle