Venice and Toronto. Les Plages d'Agnès.

"Les Plages d'Agnès, a gentle, softly whimsical memoir-like reminiscence on video, pulls at strands of cineaste Agnès Varda's life, from her movies to her childhood, from her husband (filmmaker Jacques Demy, who died in 1990), to her photography and art exhibits," writes Daniel Kasman in the Auteurs' Notebook.

"No ordinary biopic or autobiographical documentary, Varda's video, like her character, is sweet, smart, off-hand, and comical."

"[I]t's only half way through the film that she gets to her introduction to the world of filmmaking and when she does, she's less interested in the language and history of film and her own contribution in it and more in the people she was close to, particularly Demy, and the political causes she committed to," notes Dan Fainaru in Screen Daily. "This feels like the work of an octogenarian who wishes to be leave those close to her a well rounded self-portrait to remember her by."

"Honored this year at Venice with the Glory to the Filmmaker award, Varda proved an early blurrer of fact and fiction, as she reminds us, in her pioneering New Wave opus La Pointe courte." Variety: "The Beaches of Agnes is a similarly oddball mix that may strike some as overly whimsical but should delight the filmmaker's many fans."

Update, 9/20: "Varda has assembled a fascinating documentary; a wind-shifted mirror which creatively reflects her own fascinating personage. With generous candor, she responded to her TIFF08 audience about her latest creative endeavor." Michael Guillén transcribes the Q&A.

Posted by dwhudson at September 9, 2008 9:28 AM