When I first became a true cinephile almost 20 years ago, one of the first areas I began to explore was the French New Wave. I was fascinated by a group of film critics and writers who transitioned to some of the most impactful directors in the history of the medium. One of my favorites was Jean-Luc Godard, and one of the first films of his I purchased was a Criterion DVD of Band of Outsiders.
One thing I truly believe is that for those that are willing to follow the trail, great art leads to great art. Film, music, literature. If you find something you love it will lead you on a path to more things to love. And this DVD of Band out Outsiders had a short film on it that featured Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina in acting roles, but the director was Agnes Varda, and thus my love of Varda’s cinema was born.
I’d like to tell you I’d seen every film in this set by now, but that would be a lie. At the time I tracked down Cleo from 5 to 7, and a few years back secured a Jane B. era double Blu-ray of Agnes V. vs Jane B. and Kung Fu Master. In the last yea I had also managed to check Varda by Agnes, so this set helped me finally take a deeper dive in the cinema of Varda.
This set like Criterion’s massive Ingmar Bergman set of 2018 is not a simple collecting of the films with extras. It feels like Criterion has moved passed that with sets like these 2. Sure when you have 5 films like the recent Bruce Lee Collection there are limits to what you can, but when you have the entirety of the filmography of Agnes Varda or Ingmar Bergman, careers that spanned over half a century of work it gives you options to say the least.
What Criterion has done is take a film programmers perspective to the material in this set. Each page in the book that contains the Blu-ray’s is titled after how the disc is segmented, so while the films all might be from the same era, they will all have an overarching element that brings the films on that disc together.
The first disc “Agnes Forever” opens with Varda’s final film the documentary-esque piece Varda by Agnes and also the short Les 3 Boutons. This is an interesting yet all-too appropriate decision as it commits to showing the viewers into the world of Agnes Varda, but through her own autobiographical lens. It’s also a fantastic film, injected with a tinge of real world sadness as it was released just month’s before the directors own death.
The set than travels back to Early Varda, and takes on her debut La Pointe Courte (which predates Breathless and The 400 Blows by a good number of years) and combines it with her early short film work. The next disc in the set Around Paris contains her best known work Cleo from 5 to 7 (if not best known it’s at the very least the film that put her on the map). It also contains a series of shorts including the aforementioned Les Fiances Du Pont MacDonald, and L’Opera-Mouffe.
Disc 4 is titled Rue Daguerre and focuses on the neighborhood that Varda lived in. It has 2 films Daguerreotypes, and a short called Le Lion Volatil. The documentary is a simple, but sweet piece about the denizens of her neighborhood near Rue Daguerre. The film goes from a simple day in the life piece to something else in the 2nd half when Varda begins to juxtapose shots of a magician’s performance with other aspects of normal life.
The fifth disc in the set if called Married Life, and while it involves married couples in relationships, that seems to be the base at which Varda used to spring some truly otherworldly and quite interesting cinema upon unsuspecting viewers. The disc contains 3 films 2 features (Le Bonheur and Les Creatures) and a short Elsa La Rose. Le Bonheur involves a happily married couple with the standard atomic family, but the husband decides to start an affair. Normally, this kind of thing would be played out as a disaster waiting to happen, but is played for a sense of normalcy and acceptance in a way. The follow up Les Creatures stars Michel Piccoli and Catherine Deneuve as a married couple who are recovering from a traumatizing car accident in a tiny village. The village is sort of the typical horror film village oddly or something akin to Straw Dogs where there is a certain resistance to the pair. Deneuve’s role in the film entirely silent because of the trauma, and yet she like Christopher Lee in Dracula Prince of Darkness truly owns the role and makes the character her own.
The 6th disc is entitled In California and crosses 2 eras the 60’s and the 80’s. Normally I’d say that this would be 2 different Varda-periods, but thematically they are tied in to the California setting. She was in CA., as her husband the icon Jacques Demy was trying to crack the Hollywood market. These were released by Criterion in the past as Eclipse 43 – Agnes Varda in California, so it’s nice to see some Eclipse titles getting their HD due. The films in this set include a few documentaries like Uncle Ynaco, Mur Murs, and Black Panthers, but also wild films that bridge the gap between fiction and doc like Lions Love (… and Lies), and Documenteur.
The 7th disc is entitled Her Body, Herself and is in many ways a redux version of a Blu-ray of “One Sings, The Other Doesn’t” that Criterion relased in 2019. The main feature is the aforementioned One Sings, The Other Doesn’t, and follows 2 women through their lives over about a 15 year period of feminist turmoil in France. There is a short Plaisir d’Amount en Iran that is made up of deleted footage from the film, as well as another short Response de Femmes that follows a group of women being asked about their womanhood.
The “No Shelter” disc contains one of Agne’s best known, but later films 1985’s Vagabond. Vagabond follows Mona who as the film opens… is dead. Her body is discovered in a ditch, and then she is buried in a common grave. We are then flashed back into Mona’s life until that point, with the expectation that we will see the events that lead to her demise, but while the film paints the portrait even so much as having documentary esque talking head testimony, we never really get the full scope, and in many ways that makes the film all the more powerful. Accompanying the film on the disc is a 28 minute short film from 1984 7p., cuis., s. de b., … (à saisir). This film more than any other in the set has a horror vibe to it, and feels like some esoteric ghost story, now I say this, but this is not horror at all. It’s just the tone.
Disc 9’s Jane B. refers to Jane Birkin also known as the partner of Serge Gainsbourg. These were relased by Cinelicious in 2016, in one set, but for the sake of completion it is nice having them here. The first film in the pairing is more of an artistic, visual collaboration between Birkin and Varda, where Varda coaches Birkin through various artistic conceits. Kung Fu Master is…uncomfortable, and I’ll admit this was hard to watch the first time, and even harder to revisit. It tells the story of a 40 year old woman played by Birkin, who falls for a 14 year old boy who is obsessed by a game called “Kung Fu Master”. It’s not played as sexual shenanigans, so there is that, but it’s very difficult to watch regardless.
Disc 10 is simply titled Jacques Demy.
Jacques Demy and Varda were married for decades, when Demy died in 1991 of AIDS related complications. The two separated briefly in the 80’s, but came back together, and allegedly never lived far apart (apparently they lived across the street from one-another). The week after Demy died Varda premiered a film based on his early childhood experiences Jacquot de Nantes, which was based on Demy’s writings and oral retellings to Varda. This is such a devastating and painful film as it incorporates footage of a dying Demy contrasting with the childhood moments. The two documentaries here are called The Young Girls Turn 25 and The World of Jacques Demy, they were included previously on the Jacques Demy set, and are essential to both.
Disc 11 is Simon Cinema, and simply has one gloriously entertaining film called One Hundred and One Nights. Which has Michel Piccoli playing a 100 year old man at the 100th anniversary of cinema reliving his constantly shifting relationships with the medium. It is quite bizarre at times, but with a celebratory vibe to it.
Disc 12 is called La Glaneuse and features 2 early 2000’s films The Gleaners and I and The Gleaners and I – 2 Years Later. These films depict the lives of people who glean food from leftover places like potatoes from the ground or grapes that are left over to make their own wine. The sequel has Varda visiting people who sent in positive reacts to the first film.
Disc 13 is called Visual Artist – This kicks off with her Oscar nominated feature from 2017 Faces Places. A documentary experience with street artist JR. The pair go to rural areas of France and meet people, and photograph them using a specially designed vehicle made for photography and includes a photo booth. The 3 other films range from the 60’s to the 2000’s and show off Varda’s work as it relates to the photographic experience.
Disc 14 and 15 are called Here and There and Beaches and each contain a single piece. Disc 14 contains the 5 part TV series Agnès Varda: From Here to There, and follows her travels promoting the film on the next disc “The Beaches of Agnes.” This oddly works at a perfect bookend especially considering her final film as the first, and this reflective piece as the last. It incorporates footage from many of her films, and really comes across as a glorious look back on her career and loves.
This set is complex to review from the perspective of A/V. Which is where we butter our bread I’d like to say. With a director like Varda, she never simply shot in one style or aspect ratio, and continued experimenting with the medium throughout to her last days. As such we have films that in all sorts of mediums including the Gleaners films which were shot in Mini-DV. All the films shot on film were restored pretty nicely, and have film like qualities, this applies to the features. Some of the shorts appear to be upscales from other earlier sources, but look solid. The DV material is put on Blu-ray and again upscaled, it looks fine, but don’t expect anything but DV visuals. I will say that is likely the best one will ever see Agnes Varda’s work and looks quite glorious on both HD and UHD setups (I projected some of the films through my HD projector and watched others on my 4K tv). The sound again varies film to film, but is never less than clear. Extras are absolutely insane, and compromise shorts, documentaries, behind the scenes features, interviews, trailers, and so much more. We also get a book of liner notes that cannot be dismissed and covers so much excellent material. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Director- Agnes Varda
Cast- Various
Country of Origin- Various (Primarily France)
Format- Blu-ray
Discs- 14
Distributor- Criterion
Reviewer- Scott MacDonald