The Beaches of Agnès (Les Plages D'Agnès)

Deliciously playful yet also poignant and serious, inclusive of others while preserving a sense of intimacy and beautifully poetic in the most accessible, down-to-earth way: Varda's cinematic self-portrait is a modest masterpiece, a typically idiosyncratic introduction to the life and work of a remarkable woman. For Varda, turning inwards leads to the coastal locations that have marked her life, from the Belgian beaches of childhood summer holidays to the Isle of Noirmoutier where she would stay with her late husband and fellow filmmaker, Jacques Demy. With a painterly attention to framing and composition, the film is a colourful collage of clips, installations and reconstructions, connected by Varda's wry and endearing commentary. It illuminates well-loved films such as CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 and THE GLEANERS AND I, interweaving her personal history with reflections on memory, cinema and being a woman.

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