Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Faces Places Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 31, 2020

Note: This version of this film is available as part of The Complete Films of Agnès Varda. See below for a link to a previous Blu-ray release put out by Cohen Media Group.

In the wake (figurative or otherwise) of Agnès Varda’s death last year at the age of 90, quite a bit has rightfully been written about this iconic force in both French and global cinema. Varda’s output includes well over fifty credits as a director (including some television entries as detailed by the IMDb), and aside from listing some of her better known triumphs, many obituaries and/or eulogies about Varda mentioned any number of other biographical data points, including her rather unique position as a woman in France’s nouvelle vague movement, her own feminism which was featured none too subtly in some of her films, and her frequently provocative experimental style. But you know what one of the things that kind of fascinates me personally most about Varda? That she was married for 28 years to Jacques Demy, from 1962 until Demy’s death in 1990. That Varda, often a purveyor of verité infused “realism”, whether that be in outright documentaries or at least ostensibly more “fictional” outings, and Demy, a director whose candy colored, dreamlike and at least relatively "Hollywoodized" musicals with Michel Legrand brought a new luster and gloss to French cinema, managed to make a marital go of it for so long is certainly testament to the maxim that “opposites attract”, even if those oppositional forces in this instance played out at least in part in terms of what kinds of films the two were often best remembered for. If Varda's long marriage to Demy is more than enough reason to celebrate her personal life, her professional life is beautifully feted in this rather astounding new set from Criterion, which aggregates an amazing 39 films (albeit some running as short as a few minutes) to provide what is arguably one of the most insightful overviews of Varda's cinematic oeuvre. Perhaps unavoidably, but also undeniably movingly, these personal and professional sides of Varda merge in at least some of the films in this set, including The Young Girls Turn 25, The World of Jacques Demy, Jacquot de Nantes, and The Beaches of Agnès.

Faces Places is one of the films in this set that has had a previous release on Blu-ray from Cohen Media Group in 2018. Those interested in more information on this documentary are encouraged to read my Faces Places Blu-ray review of the Cohen Media Group release. Some of the verbiage below is also repeated from that review.

Faces Places Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Faces Places is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer (mostly) in 1.85:1 (a few archival clips and montages of photos are in somewhat narrower aspect ratios). I frankly noticed no discernable difference between this version and the Cohen Media Group version (and in fact this bears the Cohen masthead among the production mastheads at the film's start), and so will repeat some of what I wrote in the review of that version here. Aside from what to my eyes looked like a bit too much brightness, something that tends to cast a kind of milky haze over scenes make blacks veer toward grays, this is a very sharp and well detailed looking presentation. The scenes of the gorgeous French countryside offer sometimes spectacular depth of field, and the many close-ups of Varda, JR and their photographic subjects typically offer excellent fine detail levels. Aside from the aforementioned milkiness, the palette looks rather warm and inviting, with nice saturation and overall accuracy. There are no issues with compression anomalies.

Faces Places Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Faces Places features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix in the original French which frankly may be a bit of overkill, since there really aren't any huge opportunities in this smaller scale feature for "wow" sonics. Instead, there's typical immersive qualities provided by Mathieu Chedid's lilting score, or in some of the ubiquitous outdoor material, where ambient environmental sounds can dot the surround channels. But in essence this is really a "two hander", consisting largely of interactions between Varda and JR, and as such there simply isn't a ton of surround activity. That said, fidelity is fine throughout the presentation, and there are no problems of any kind to report.

Faces Places Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Chance is the Best Assistant: Agnes Varda and JR on Faces Places (1080p; 46:39) is a charming joint interview with the pair, where they discuss their relationship and the film. This bears the Cohen Media masthead.


• The Beach Cabin (1080p; 4:03) looks like an outtake from the film, with Varda and JR discussing potential applications to a seaside cabin.


• A Visit With Matthew Chedid (1080p; 3:41) documents a project Varda came up with that involves composer Mathieu Chedid, who scored Faces Places.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:14)

Faces Places Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Faces Places may seem, kind of like a photograph itself, to be only surface deep, but there are some profundities here nonetheless, both in terms of the sweet "May - December" relationship between JR and Varda, but also with regard to the many people with whom this pair come into contact as they roam the countryside looking for subjects. Varda cheekily opines at one point that chance has always been the best assistant to his career, and in that spirit, I'd recommend taking a chance on this charming documentary. Highly recommended.