California-based DTCV (pronounced Detective) features French singer Lola G and ex-Guided by Voices guitarist James Greer, who met at a party in the Hollywood hills and bonded over Super-Fuzz pedals. They have just released their latest album Confusion Moderne via Dead Meadow’s Xemu Records, and describe their sound as ‘Françoise Hardy fronting Buzzcocks’, mixing classic French pop, garage, 60s yé-yé and post-punk. Below, Lola G chooses her 10 favourite films directed by women.
1. Vagabond (Sans toit ni loi, Agnès Varda, 1985)
I love everything Agnès Varda has done but this one especially. It’s raw, visceral and Sandrine Bonnaire is incredible in it. Some of the scenes in our ‘Bourgeois Pop’ video were a reference to this film.
2. Numéro deux (Jean-Luc Godard, Anne-Marie Miéville, 1975)
A film from my favourite Godard period is the video experiment he did in collaboration with his partner Anne-Marie Miéville. This film was so ahead of its time, both in form and content.
3. La captive (Chantal Akerman, 2000)
Of course Jeanne Dielman is great too, but this one seems to be unjustly overlooked. It’s one of the best Proust adaptations on screen that I’ve seen.
4. . Aimé Césaire: A Voice for History (Euzhan Palcy, 1994)
Euzhan Palcy has made many critically acclaimed films but I find this extensive documentary about Aimé Césaire and the Négritude movement particularly important. It should be shown in every classroom. I saw it on French TV when I was little and it totally changed my world.
5. Love like Poison (Un poison violent, Katell Quillévéré, 2010)
A portrait of teenage malaise and confusion in the Catholic French countryside by a super-talented young writer/director.
6. Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren, 1943)
When I saw it for the first time I spent a week taking pictures of myself through the window.
7. Iverson (Zatella Beatty, 2014)
I love documentaries about cultural icons that go beyond the surface and explore larger, deeper issues. This is one of them, it’s so good that even people who hate sports love it because it’s about so much more than sports.
8. Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, 2010)
Pre-Hunger Games, strong-willed and resilient Jennifer Lawrence at her best.
9. The Night Porter (Liliana Cavani, 1974)
It’s polarizing, ambiguous, not always in good taste, hard to watch, it’s got Charlotte Rampling and bondage in it.
10. Germany in Autumn (collective, 1978)
It’s an anthology in which only a few segments were written/directed by women, but it’s in my top 10 because it was my introduction to Fassbinder and the New German cinema. It’s also a fascinating snapshot of Germany in the late 1970s.