The Beaches of Agnès

Agnès Varda returns to the beaches of her childhood, 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 aging. 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 in California 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. 

(Available from 22 February 2010)