Viva Varda! The Films of Agnès Varda
Screening Dates
  • January 20, 2020 8:45
New Restoration

“The World of Jacques Demy is a major addition to films about filmmakers.”

David Stratton, Variety

The life and distinguished career of director Jacques Demy is beautifully memorialized in this poignant bio-documentary, Agnès Varda’s third film devoted to her late husband. Interweaving excerpts from Demy’s movies with warmly conducted interviews with collaborators and devotees, Varda fashions a thoughtful, from‑the‑heart survey of her husband’s thirty years of art making, and the ups and downs endured. Anouk Aimée talks of Lola, Demy’s brilliant 1961 debut. Catherine Deneuve and composer Michel Legrand reminisce on musicals The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort (the latter screening in February), Demy’s most revered works. Varda and her children flesh out the personal details, while ardent fans speak to his profound influence. Throughout, Demy’s rare genius as an architect of cinematic worlds is plain, making his absence all the more acute.

Note

Varda/Demy
Agnès Varda’s husband Jacques Demy was himself a prominent and popular French director, known for his ravishing romances, fairy tales, and musicals, including The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967). The two filmmakers were married in 1962; Demy died, at age 59, in 1990. Varda’s films about her husband and his cinema — she made three — form an important part of her own body of work. She also oversaw important restorations of Cherbourg and Rochefort. The latter screens as part of this program.