I recently reviewed the following film for Video Librarian, and thought the results were worth sharing.THE BEACHES OF AGNES [***1/2]
(Agnès Varda, France, 2009, 110 minutes)
To love cinema is to love Jacques Demy, painting, family, and puzzles.
--Agnès Varda, The Beaches of Agnès
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
As French New Wave veteran Agnès Varda (Cléo from 5 to 7, The Gleaners and I) explains in her enchanting documentary, she's spent a lifetime filming other people, because "It's others I'm interested in, others I like to film." The Beaches of Agnès, on the other hand, allows the self-described "pleasantly plump and talkative" 80-year-old artist to turn the camera on herself for a change.
Because she has fond memories of trips to the beach as a child (dubbing it "my favorite landscape"), that's where she speaks about her life, surrounded by mirrors, photographs, and recreated scenes from her past. Actors, like Jane B. for Agnès V.'s Jane Birkin and Séraphine's Yolande Moreau, appear in these memories.
Some of these images, Varda says, "have haunted me for a long time." To this material, filmed inFrance and California
In chronological order, Varda moves from her childhood in Brussels to her adolescence in Paris to her years as a photographer to her relationship with Jacques Demy (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Donkey Skin)--their children would also join the family business.
In looking back at her career, Varda honors other artists with whom she has collaborated, like Alain Resnais, who edited La Pointe Courte, actor Philippe Noiret, who starred in the film, and avant garde essayist Chris Marker, who interviews her disguised as his feline alter ego, Guillaume. For a movie about times gone by, The Beaches of Agnès is far more playful than regretful. Highly recommended.
Click here for Movie of the Month, Part 15: Passing Strange
As part of this year's P.O.V. Series on PBS, The Beaches of Agnès airs on June 29 (check local listings). Slightly revised from the original text. Image of Agnès Varda and Guillaume from Film Forum.
***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
As French New Wave veteran Agnès Varda (Cléo from 5 to 7, The Gleaners and I) explains in her enchanting documentary, she's spent a lifetime filming other people, because "It's others I'm interested in, others I like to film." The Beaches of Agnès, on the other hand, allows the self-described "pleasantly plump and talkative" 80-year-old artist to turn the camera on herself for a change.
Because she has fond memories of trips to the beach as a child (dubbing it "my favorite landscape"), that's where she speaks about her life, surrounded by mirrors, photographs, and recreated scenes from her past. Actors, like Jane B. for Agnès V.'s Jane Birkin and Séraphine's Yolande Moreau, appear in these memories.
Some of these images, Varda says, "have haunted me for a long time." To this material, filmed in
In chronological order, Varda moves from her childhood in Brussels to her adolescence in Paris to her years as a photographer to her relationship with Jacques Demy (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Donkey Skin)--their children would also join the family business.
In looking back at her career, Varda honors other artists with whom she has collaborated, like Alain Resnais, who edited La Pointe Courte, actor Philippe Noiret, who starred in the film, and avant garde essayist Chris Marker, who interviews her disguised as his feline alter ego, Guillaume. For a movie about times gone by, The Beaches of Agnès is far more playful than regretful. Highly recommended.
Click here for Movie of the Month, Part 15: Passing Strange
As part of this year's P.O.V. Series on PBS, The Beaches of Agnès airs on June 29 (check local listings). Slightly revised from the original text. Image of Agnès Varda and Guillaume from Film Forum.
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