The series A posteriori le cinéma is intended to be an opportunity to celebrate the 7the art by revisiting flagship titles that celebrate important anniversaries.
As he approaches 80e birthday, Agnès Varda noticed that her memory was no longer what it used to be. Thus was born, in the urgency of reminiscences which were veiled in vagueness, the documentary The beaches of Agnès. At the time, this autobiographical essay was seen as the “joyful cinematographic testament” of the director of Cleo from 5 to 7 and of No shelter, no law. By means of kitsch reconstructions, photos and film extracts, a creator at the top of her unique art reveals herself like never before. Indeed, if there is one thing that demonstrates The beaches of Agnèsreleased in Quebec 15 years ago, in March 2009, after months on the festival circuit, the cinema of the smallest of the great filmmakers was like no other.
In fact, the one who liked to laugh at her height of five-foot-two and who presents herself in the film as a “little plump and talkative old woman who tells her life story” will have considerably enriched the seventh art during her long and free career.
In this regard, in his review published in the New York TimesManohla Dargis makes a fair point after celebrating The beaches of Agnès and her visual approach: “The images are as delicious, unexpected, playful and uninhibited as Ms. Varda herself, perhaps the only filmmaker to have both won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and walked in a art exhibition disguised as a potato (not at the same time). Born in 1928, she started as a photographer and made her first feature film, The short tip, in 1954, when most New Wave directors were still dreaming of cinema instead of making it. »
Quoting the historian Georges Sadoul and his Dictionary of films published in 1967, the author and professor Sandy Flitterman-Lewis also reiterates the pioneering role of Agnès Varda in relation to the New Wave – a role not always recognized since in certain circles, we prefer to keep the New Wave in boys’ club by attributing the paternity of the movement to the film The handsome Sergeby Claude Chabrol, released in 1958.
In his work To Desire Differently: Feminism and the French Cinema, Flitterman-Lewis writes: “This group included filmmakers François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, Éric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette, Agnès Varda, Alain Resnais, and Chris Marker; some critics consider the latter three to be a subgroup, the “Left Bank” filmmakers. It was indeed Agnès Varda who inaugurated the New Wave with her film The pshort anointed, which Georges Sadoul called “truly the first film of the French New Wave”. “Varda’s body of work embodies characteristics traditionally associated with [la Nouvelle Vague] : independence and originality, a very personal vision, continuous research into the language and syntax of film and sustained attention to forms of narrative organization. »
More than half a century later The short tipall these characteristics, without exception, are clearly evident in The beaches of Agnès. “Independence and originality”, “very personal vision”…
However, the filmmaker never repeats things, on the contrary: it is precisely this “continuous research into the language and syntax of film” which, from fictions to documentaries, contributes to Agnès Varda’s cinema being both eminently recognizable, and constantly evolving.
Conversation about cinema
Besides, The beaches of Agnès goes through several transformations as the filmmaker revisits these shores which represent important personal milestones for her (such as her meeting with the filmmaker Jacques Demy) or professional milestones (many filmings), often both at the same time. In The world, Jean-Luc Douin summarizes: “The whole film is at odds with tone. Self-deprecation undermines nostalgia, the evocation of great men and friends leads to homage to the dearly departed, the inventory all in grace, lightness and small jokes does not forget the dark hours of the Occupation, the fight of Just, the feminist cause. From circus to mourning, [Agnès Varda] films himself walking backwards, recounting a journey dedicated to freedom and two love stories: one with Jacques Demy, the other with art. »
In this kaleidoscopic diary, Agnès Varda becomes an uninhibited subject: “If we opened people up, we would find landscapes. Me, if we opened up, we would find beaches,” confides the filmmaker in voiceover.
In the New York Times, Manohla Dargis notes on this subject: “I am happy that Ms. Varda reserves most of the space in this film for her own story. It’s a remarkable story, rich in comedy and sometimes heartbreaking, filled with wise reflections and astonishing digressions into the wonders of life. It is a life that she is, I believe, on the verge of perfecting thanks to her mind, which she keeps as blissfully and lastingly open as her large round eyes. »
Although the director goes beyond just her person… When accompanying The beaches of Agnès at the Toronto International Film Festival, Agnès Varda thus reminded Odile Tremblay of Duty : “I did not study cinema, being first a photographer, nor follow a framework in my films […] I had fun with wonderful toys. In The gleaners and the gleanerpeople pick up what has been abandoned and lost. The beaches of Agnès rather allow me to peck, like a bird that comes, that flushes out. While The gleaners concerned a subject larger than myself – consumption, waste – here, the subject remains the small me. But through this self, I see people, places, times again. My life is in fact just an excuse to say much more. »
Much more ? And how ! Upon release in France, Agnès Varda specifies Figaro : “This film is also a conversation about cinema. »
It’s the case. Nevertheless, with hindsight, it is because we learn so much about the career and practice of this major director that The beaches of Agnès occupies a special place in his filmography.
Natural fantasy
As for the will of cinema, joyful or not, the main interested party was clear from the outset.
In fact, always Figarothe one whose memory ultimately did not fail and who subsequently made two more documentaries, has these words concerning The beaches of Agnès, which some people expect to be his swan song: “My favorite form is surrealist collage. It corresponds to my natural fantasy, the desire to have fun with things and with myself, not to take myself seriously. I go so far as to disguise myself, without fear of ridicule. It counters the idea of an old filmmaker’s will. »
It was obviously Agnès Varda’s prerogative to call herself “old” twice rather than once. One thing is certain however, his cinema has never been old. Goodbye The beaches of Agnèsit is to witness a creative effervescence having nothing to envy of youth.
The film The beaches of Agnès is available on the Criterion Chanel platform.