The Beaches of Agnès (Agnès Varda, 2008)
Is this on DVD yet? Where can I find a copy?
Love how you made me want to see the film without having to giving away any surprises.
:) I saw it in theatres, during its three-day run in Vancouver.
I hope it gets a release, but I don’t believe it’s had one yet? :(
Looking forward to this – love her work
It is on release in the UK, and along with the emotion, encompasses Varda’s playful nature as she walks backwards through her history, sometimes dressing in bizarre costumes, with interpolations by “Chris Marker”. She even makes entertaining a sequence of how she used to park her car in a narrow alleyway. The titular beaches encompass both the conventional and the unconventional.She is inspiring.
I couldn’t take this movie seriously as a film, as one that I could love—that being said, it revealed such profundities to me about human life, and for that I loved it.
So obviously I’m conflicted. Maybe’s it’s because I think great films can reveal these truths much more gracefully, subtly, not self-conciously, as this whole film was to an extreme.
But I’m one that cringes at any removal or foray into breaking down the fourth wall, acknowledging the film as a film within the story, films about making films, etc…
I kinda agree with that Drew, but I have seen most of her work, so this would be a capstone to her career
Drew, are you familiar with Varda’s work? I think one film that begins to allude to this in particular is The Gleaners and I. I haven’t seen any of her American films, so I cannot comment on those. I found it to be a wonderful and well-made documentary, but for me in particular it was the first film I saw of hers that showcased her as a person, and not just as a talented filmmaker through her finished efforts. She gleaned heart-shaped potatoes, and therefore salvaged them from being discarded. She candidly films herself — her age spots, her newly greying hair, her wrinkles. She pretends to catch trucks that pass by on the highway with her hand, and when we see the lens cap of the camera hanging in the film by accident, she refers to it affectionately as “The Dance of the Lens Cap”. My favourite was the handless clock on her mantelpiece at home, so she doesn’t have to think about time passing by.
For Beaches the entire film was like this, weaved with her narration of past events in her life. You’d think it would be self-indulgent (and I suppose some may have criticized this aspect of the film), but for me it was anything but. After all it’s an autobiographical documentary, and she truly made it her own — Varda-style, if you will. From Gleaners we get a glimpse of her personality, and she’s unconventional — wacky and fun, but in a very endearing manner, and we come to love her for this. Even in the beginning, she describes herself as “playing the role of a little old lady, pleasantly plump and talkative”. She’s able to not take herself too seriously, and often pokes fun at herself. Who else would film themselves parading around in a potato outfit in a museum? Very few. And enjoy it immensely? Even fewer. Or have Chris Marker depicted as an electronic-voiced talking striped orange cat? I think we can say for the latter that only Varda would.
It’s these intimate oddities that make this film great, and ultimately what draws you in. She puts forth a part of herself, and doesn’t shy away from the painful parts of her memories, like the death of husband Jacques Demy. She exudes creativity and this film is evidence of that. I almost feel as though this film was for herself, but we as viewers had the privilege to share it with her. I heard that she won’t be making more films, but instead focusing on her photography (I hope not!). I don’t know if this is true, but if so, I think it was a unique and touching way to bow out and encapsulate her career.
Sorry Drew, I understand your opinion and respect it. What I wrote wasn’t in any way against your thoughts. This post was more for me, and my personal ode to Agnès Varda. Like ozufan said, I too think she’s inspiring — as a filmmaker but also as a person. Beaches was one of the few films I’d seen in the past year that had me smiling all the way home after exiting the theatre, and I love her for it.
Great job, Myra.
I’d just like to mention that The Beaches of Agnès is now available on DVD in the U.S.
SPECIAL FEATURES
· Mastered from original HD Source Material
· Two short documentaries by Agnes Varda on the making of the film
· “Le Lion Volatil” (12 minutes), short film by Agnes Varda starring Julie Depardieu
· Biography and Select Filmography
· Theatrical Trailer
· 5.1 Soundtrack
· Booklet featuring essay by film critic Amy Taubin and production notes from Agnes Varda
Thanks for the info Arsaib! I’m so happy that it got a US release. It’s one of my favourite films of the decade. I hope more people are able to see it.
… And I love the choice in cover art. :)
Yes Yes Yes! I got the DVD in my last week trip to London! Couldn’t wait any longer to watch it once more. Les Plages d’Agnès is pure enthusiasm and makes you love the world in return, if you ever happened to get tired of it, like I did. :) Anna.
Myra
The Beaches of Agnès
Directed by Agnès Varda
The most recent effort from the ‘Grandmother of the French New Wave’ is a humble and intimate portrait of her life and career. An unconventional autobiographical documentary, Varda takes us as viewers along on a personal journey, from her early beginnings as a photographer, to her first feature La Pointe Courte, about a young couple in a small Mediterranean fishing village. As her narration progresses, we become enchanted with her joie de vivre and her charismatic talent, as she expresses to us her inspirations and her works, which have spanned the course of over 50 years.
Filmmaking aside, Varda also reveals to us the important people in her life. We watch as she reminisces about her childhood, as she gingerly places old photos in the sand and speak fondly of her children and fellow contemporaries. It was also in this film that for the first time on camera, Varda with great pain divulged to the public the true reason for husband Jacque Demy’s death in 1990.
Yet we are brought back to her inspiring cinema in the end. Literally within walls of celluloid, in a house made of film reels from a failed project for a museum, Varda contemplates about her artistic career as a filmmaker: “In here it feels like I live in cinema, cinema is my home. I think I’ve always lived in it.”