The Beaches Of Agnes review

An ageing filmmaker takes a retrospective look over her life...

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Belgian-born, eightysomething filmmaker Agnès Varda reflectively rummages through her past in this idiosyncratic self-portrait.

Out of the kaleidoscope of film clips, personal photographs and staged reconstructions of old memories emerges a fascinating life: Varda’s 1954 debut feature La Pointe Courte helped launch the French New Wave; she later married and worked with celebrated director Jacques Demy (The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg); and down the years she’s been mates with Jim Morrison and Harrison Ford. Poignant and illuminating, it’s also suffused with Varda’s playful, eccentric spirit.