The Beaches of Agnès (2008) Les plages d'Agnès

Director: Agnès Varda
Writer: Agnès Varda
Stars: Agnès Varda, André Lubrano, Blaise Fournier

Beaches have always been important to Agnès Varda, as she would travel to the seaside every Easter and summer throughout her childhood. During the Second World War, she was exiled in the coastal town of Sète, a period she recalls with fondness as a time of endless fun. Returning to Sète in the late 50s, she would use the locale and the local fishermen as the backdrop for her remarkable feature debut La Pointe Courte.

Varda returns once more to the beaches, using her early memories of the coast as a springboard for the film's meditation on her youth. Weaving photography, archive footage, scenes from her own films and present-day sequences, Varda takes us on a memorable voyage through her life, during which she confronts the joy of creation and the pain of personal loss, death and ageing.

It is a singular trip played out against the stirring backdrop of the post-war explosion of cultural expression in France. She knew everyone: the French New Wave set (she was married to Jacques Demy), the Black Panthers and even Jim Morrison, who would visit Agnès when he was in Paris. Idiosyncratic, engaging and deeply moving, The Beaches of Agnès is the autobiography of a magnificent artist and a woman of vital curiosity. Starring Mathieu Demy and Jane Birkin.

This movie is so far beyond what could be considered,'Documentary', that the film exists in entirely new cinematic terrain. Agnes Varda has spent her life portraying Life with an artistic skill and wit that is second to none. She has created a body of work, both as a photographer and a film maker that will be viewed and celebrated as long as there are humans on the planet. And, now with, THE BEACHES OF AGNES, she tackles the presentation of her own personal story, not within the confines of, 'Realism', but in full-blown, 'Surreal Mode'. Each and every shot in this film is a joy to behold- Awe inspiring and playful simultaneously. Sound, or the lack there of, also adds an additional perspective which has a way of pulling the viewer deeper into the startling images and compelling narrative structure. THE BEACHES OF AGNES is one of the best films I have seen in a long while, and I am positive that I have never seen anything quite like it. A Must See.

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