The Beaches of Agnes

I’m not sure whether you have to love Agnes Varda going in, but there’s a pretty good chance you’ll love her by the end of this warm and witty self-portrait. Not as good as her documentary The Gleaners and I, nor several of her Nouvelle Vague features, it’s still quite charming, as she charts her own story through the beaches of her life – in her native Belgium, in France, in California – as well as the filmmakers, actors, and artists she has known. Fanciful and free, Agnes follows wherever her inspiration leads, from collected memorabilia to conceptual installations, from recreations of her childhood to interviews with old friends and family, from clips from her old films (and those of her beloved husband, Jacques Demy) to whimsies staged with surrealist verve. A quintessential example of the personal essay on film, of the self-portrait in cinema, this film of an “80-year-old woman, plump and happy” mitigates self-absorption with humility and humor, and ought to appeal even to those who’ve never heard of Agnes Varda before. (2009, dvd.) *7+* (MC-80.)