Manufactured memory and the still photograph: Agnès Varda’s short films Ydessa, les ours et etc… [Ydessa, The Bears and etc…] (2004) and Ulysse (1983)

This article explores how Agnès Varda’s short films Ydessa, les ours et etc… (2004) and Ulysse (1983) examine the role of the photograph in relation to memory and the past. Although the photos that each film scrutinizes have been produced and exhibited under different circumstances, they are alike in providing opportunities for Varda to inquire about their status as archival documents and interrogate the versions of the (sometimes idealized) pasts they appear to depict. While there are pleasures, in both films, for viewers gazing at such imagery, both films advocate a more reflexive approach to the fantasized histories and imagined stories on offer.