The Beaches of Agnes 2008

     Agnes Varda explores her memories, most are chronologically in order with photographs, film clips, interviews, reenactments and playful contemporary scenes of her narrating her story.  At this time, Agnes Varda is nearly 80 years old.  She grew up in Belgium, also living in Sete, Paris, and Norimoutier, France.  Originally, her first name was Arlette but she changed her name to Anges at the age of 18.   She was part of the New Wave movement and she also raised children.   A daughter Rosalie from a relationship with actor Antoine Bouseiller and a son Mathieu during her marriage to Jacques Demy.  Jacques passed away in 1990.  Agnes passed away from cancer on 29 March 2019 in Paris at the age of 90.

     Many of the films made by Agnes are about marginalized or rejected members of society and documentary in nature.  She made a short film on the Black Panthers after seeing their leader Huey Newton was arrested.  She created her own signature style by using the camera as a pen.  She believed that all roles should be working together simultaneously to create a more cohesive film.  Because of her photographic background, still images are often significant part of her films.  She directed and wrote 24 feature films from and 21 short films from 1955 to 2019.  She also worked on four television movies from 1970 to 2011.  5* (I really liked this film) 

112 min, Doc directed by Agnes Varda and written by Didier Rouget and Agnes Varda with Andre Lubrano, Blaise and Vinvent Fournier, Andree, Stephane and Christophe Vilar, Rosalie Varda, Mathieu Demy, Christophe Valllaux, Mireille Henrio, Didier Rouget.

Note:  Imdb 8* out of 10* with 3,177 reviews, Roger Ebert 4*, The Guardian 4* Peter Bradshaw, Rotten Tomatoes 96% with 71 critic reviews 89% with 1234 user rating, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 30 customer ratings, Slant Magazine 3* out of 4* Eric Henderson, Metacritic 86 out of 100 with 19 critic reviews (positive 19, mixed 0, negative 0), 7 out of 10 with 15 with user scores (positive 10, mixed 3, negative 2), Letterboxd 4.2* out of 5*.

 
Special Note:  Agnes won many awards during her career.  The BBC polled 368 film experts from 84 countries to name the 100 best films by women directors.  Agnes Varda was the most-named director with six different films on the list.