The Beaches of Agnès
Composite Score: 85.33
Featuring: Agnès Varda, André Lubrano, Blaise Fournier, Vincent Fournier, Andrée Vilar, Stéphane Vilar, Christophe Vilar, Rosalie Varda, Mathieu Demy, Christophe Vallaux, Mireille Henrio, Didier Roget, and Jacques Demy
Director: Agnès Varda
Writers: Agnès Varda and Didier Roget
Genres: Documentary, Biography, Film
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Box Office: $2.24 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
The Beaches of Agnès is Agnès Varda’s autobiographical documentary about her life, her work, and the people important to her. Through the film, she reminisces on her memories of childhood, adolescence, adulthood, love, and work in voiceovers, narrations, footage from her films, and new vignettes and art installations that she directs. It’s a touching homage to memory, cinema, family, and life that Varda crafts into a cohesive film essay about herself. The unique style and energy that the acclaimed filmmaker brings to bear in this documentary on her life makes it one of the most unique films ever made and one that should be a must-watch for cinephiles, fans of the director, and those interested at all in French New Wave cinema and filmmakers.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
The Beaches of Agnès is a French/Belgian film essay about a prominent member of the French New Wave movement, made by that filmmaker; I don’t know that it’s a film made for everyone to enjoy. It contains references that not everyone is going to get, vignettes that feel overtly artistic for the sake of being artistic, and a plethora of ruminations on Varda’s life that moviegoers who know nothing about the acclaimed filmmaker are sure to find less than engaging. As someone with little prior experience with Varda, I still found the film compelling, but I also recognize that not everyone shares my passion for film or my enjoyment of certain types of experimentation in film, so I can’t say that this is a film that I would automatically recommend to everyone. I think that if you’ve seen Cléo from 5 to 7, The Gleaners and I, Jacquot of Nantes, Documenteur, and/or Daguerrotypes and enjoyed any of them, then this documentary immediately becomes a must-watch for you because of how much insight Varda gives to her processes and the making of and inspirations for these films and others in her filmography. Otherwise, you can probably be excused for skipping this, unless you really want a more recent sample of Varda’s work to get you into the rest of it.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
It’s always really fun to watch a director grapple with their own story – see Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous, Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale and Marriage Story, François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, Andrei Tarkovsky’s Mirror, and Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast – because each of them brings so much of themselves to it that the film never feels like any other biopic or biographical documentary that you’ve ever seen. That remains true in Varda’s exploration of herself, as well. The Beaches of Agnès contains some of the rawest bits of the filmmaker, from her emotional mourning for Jacques Demy and other artists that had passed on before her to the use of her various homes as sets for her little vignettes to the undeniable love she has for her fellow filmmakers and crew. It all coalesces into this beautiful picture of herself that tells you more about not just the filmmaker, but about film history, French and Belgian history, the people that Varda knew, and filmmaking in general. It’s a unique offering in the world of documentaries, and I (and I’m sure Agnès Varda also) wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Beaches of Agnès provides a wholistic look back at the filmmaker’s life and work, offering the audience a look inside the head of one of the most prolific and unique filmmakers in history, earning itself a spot among the greats in the process. Varda’s definitive style and creative choices might not be the first choice for all audience members, but those who want to know more about her, and her filmmaking, are sure to find plenty here to love. This film can currently be streamed on the Criterion Channel for those interested in checking it out in the coming days.