The Beaches of Agnès (Friday, July 3, 2009) (83)

I admit that 'Cleo from 5 to 7' is the only Agnès Varda film I've ever seen. I don't think this fact got in the way of enjoying this fascinating and wonderful documentary.

This is a very fun and fresh take on an autobiography. We first see Varda on a beach near her birthplace in Belgium organizing a crew who are setting up mirrors so she can literally look at herself and so we can see her through them. Visual and literal puns like this run through the film and always keep us excited to see what is coming next. At one moment, she says that she can't remember her childhood; then she shows a picture of her and her sister as girls in bathing suits; then she shows two present-day girls dressed in the same suits that were in the picture playing a scene from her childhood (or whatever she interprets that to be). At another point, she has two men, who are the sons of two actors she once worked with, push a cart down an alley wile a projector on the cart shows footage of their father pushing the same cart down the same alley. Very clever.

She traces her career from still photographer, to filmmaker, to 'member' in the New Wave and her romantic relationship with Jacques Demy. Her style is frequently multi-media (including a cartoon cat sitting in for director Chris Marker), using montages and interviews as well as dramatic re-enactments. She has an uncanny sense of humor with the treatment, but this does not get in the way of the seriousness of the content.

I really like the fact that the film as an autobiography and reflection of her films also is an excellent example of the form and style of her oeuvre.

Stars: 3 of 4