VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

chaos-rampant So I finally arrive for the last leg of my journey with Varda in this self portrait. I will rest here for the time being with the beautiful introspection of it; not because she has stopped working, she hasn't, but this permits an appreciation of everything she strives to live for. For newcomers it will be a good place to start knowing her and they can deepen each chapter by going back to her earlier travels.Introspection is the wrong word actually. Varda doesn't keep things internalized, I don't get the sense of anything hidden or dimly seen. For her it is all readily available, it is all externalized and offered up to us like we are guests in her house on an afternoon and she just waves us in smiling. I get the sense of a woman who has traveled far and seen amazing things and can't wait to share it all with a giddy, sometimes shy, excitement.This isn't the first time she is reflecting on herself of course, many of her works are self portraits on the side or inspired by real life. We learn for example that Daguerrotypes she filmed around her neighborhood because she was pregnant at the time and had to stay at home. But how does she present herself here, what images of her? Varda as grandmotherly raconteur, as young girl overcoming her shyness with men, as spirited woman who protested injustice, as wife and soulmate and explorer.As for stories, she has been all over and has plenty. Traveled to China and Cuba in her twenties and came back with images of revolution. Knew Godard and speaks about her filmmaking start via Resnais. She was in Oakland in '68 to film the Panthers. Knew Jim Morrison. Partied with Warhol's circle in LA. Protested feminism with Delphine Seyrig in the streets. Marker is in the film, speaking from behind an image. These and more.Saying that she shares it all in the open isn't the whole truth either; truth is knowing how to sculpt it after all. You might appreciate how eloquently she speaks about discovering sex in Corsica one summer by not speaking about it. How gracefully she speaks about her marriage, sketching only the air around unhappiness (as all marriages know) by a small gesture; yes, she was the woman in Documenteur. She is one of those beautiful souls who know how to move towards things, how to move back, how to see and from what distance. The most lasting impression however is of a woman who glides through lives she recalls and summons to her in the beach of memory, and this is Varda herself in the actual film moving through images, photos of childhood, mirrors, a visit to her childhood home yields an impromptu discussion about model trains, clips from old films, enactments, narrations about these. But moves with an unfettered soul. She opens the film with "I'm playing the role of a little old lady, telling her life story". Be like her, play the role of someone who happens to be the person you have come to be; no more is necessary.For near the end she reserves a small gem that carries the wisdom of entire lives, there's more to this one line than in entire careers. Prior to it, we have seen a woman who has known heartbreak enough, pacing alone in the house of images (the place with strips of film hanging from walls). Now her family, kids and grandkids, are dancing nearby. Watching them she muses that they're her happiness, she doesn't know if she knows them or understands them, she just goes towards them. Something to meditate upon.

valis1949 This movie is so far beyond what could be considered,'Documentary', that the film exists in entirely new cinematic terrain. Agnes Varda has spent her life portraying Life with an artistic skill and wit that is second to none. She has created a body of work, both as a photographer and a film maker that will be viewed and celebrated as long as there are humans on the planet. And, now with, THE BEACHES OF AGNES, she tackles the presentation of her own personal story, not within the confines of, 'Realism', but in full-blown, 'Surreal Mode'. Each and every shot in this film is a joy to behold- Awe inspiring and playful simultaneously. Sound, or the lack there of, also adds an additional perspective which has a way of pulling the viewer deeper into the startling images and compelling narrative structure. THE BEACHES OF AGNES is one of the best films I have seen in a long while, and I am positive that I have never seen anything quite like it. A Must See.

Ruby Liang (ruby_fff) I was fortunate to catch (October 30, 2009 in SF) "The Beaches of Agnès" aka "Les Plages d'Agnès" 2008, in French with English subtitles. Agnès Varda is 80 (in 2008) and still so lively, creative, imaginative, giving us delightful reminiscing of The New Wave film period, including the young and the old. What a filmmaker, cinematic lover, unique lady, she is. Besides being a retrospective look at Varda's cinematic life (so far), the film also serves as a loving dedication to the close to 30 years she shared with her husband Jacques Demy - the fabulous w-d-filmmaker who gave us the popular French films entirely sung musically: "The Young Girls of Rochefort" 1967 and "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" 1964 (Catherine Deneuve was in both of these two gems).If you like movies, film history, graphic design, visual play on imagery (or affiliated to none of the above), you will (still) feel akin to Varda's 'Beaches' whether you thoroughly understands French, speaks the language, been to Paris-France, or not. She has delivered a cinematic journey of going through the various phases of her life, experiences in film-making, and added her unique stamp of Agnès Varda sensibility. It's a good place to be and 'tis fun to hang around with her. As my favorite Emily Dickinson epigram says: Delight has no Competitor, so it is always most. Yes, Agnès Varda is alive and well and still full of humor, bemused or otherwise - a fantastic spirited woman, ever the innovative-discovery eye afresh, so full of wisdom, be it wistful or witty.This film is a great companion piece for viewing with her loving remembrance of Demy: Jacquot De Nantes (1991), which is in Black & White, and Color, documented the hometown childhood origin which grew into the lifelong cinematic passion of Jacques. Another enjoyable Varda-Demy film, anytime.There is an accessible official site USA at "cinemaguild.com/beachesofagnes" and the trailer at "cinemaguild.com/beachesofagnes/trailer.html". Looks like DVD is available, released on March 2, 2010.

writers_reign I normally run a mile away from anything tainted by the New Vave and the narrator/subject of this film certainly fits that description but the reports from all sides of the spectrum were so positive that I decided to give it a whirl and overall I'm glad I did. Okay, she may have been tainted by moving on the periphery of the new vaveleteers but against that she married Jacques Demy the onlie begetter of the magical Umbrellas of Cherbourg and its sequel The Young Girls of Rochefort so she can't be all bad. In fact she's mostly very good, certainly at this time of her life and she has come up with a gently lilting retrospective as melodic and bucolic as anything in her late husband's two musicals. Although she reflects on loss, death and melancholy she herself as well as her movie ultimately celebrate life. A fine film.