The Complete Films of Agnès Varda Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

The Complete Films of Agnès Varda Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 31, 2020

Note: In a set this immense that features so many films, the scores above are not even really "averages", but more of my general impression of the entire set. Therefore, even though I've scored some of the films as low as 3.0, I'm giving the overall set a 5.0, simply because it's such an incredible overview of Varda's films. I do highly recommend taking the time to read at least some of the individual reviews, linked below, to get a firmer idea of how I feel about each individual title.

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.

For reviews of the films in this set, please click on the following links:

Varda by Agnès Blu-ray review

Les 3 boutons Blu-ray review

La Pointe Courte Blu-ray review

O saisons, ô châteaux Blu-ray review

Du côté de la côte Blu-ray review

Cléo from 5 to 7 Blu-ray review

Les fiancés du pont Macdonald Blu-ray review

L'opéra-mouffe Blu-ray review

Les dites cariatides Blu-ray review

T'as de beaux escaliers, tu sais Blu-ray review

Daguerréotypes Blu-ray review

Le lion volatil Blu-ray review

Le bonheur Blu-ray review

Les créatures Blu-ray review

Elsa la Rose Blu-ray review

Uncle Yanco Blu-ray review

Black Panthers Blu-ray review

Lions Love (...and Lies) Blu-ray review

Mur Murs Blu-ray review

Documenteur Blu-ray review

One Sings, the Other Doesn't Blu-ray review

Réponse de femmes Blu-ray review

Plaisir d'amour en Iran Blu-ray review

Vagabond Blu-ray review

7 p., cuis., s. de b., ... (à saisir) Blu- ray review

Jane B. par Agnès V. Blu-ray review

Kung-Fu Master! Blu-ray review

Jacquot de Nantes Blu-ray review

The Young Girls Turn 25 Blu-ray review

The World of Jacques Demy Blu-ray review

One Hundred and One Nights Blu-ray review

The Gleaners and I Blu-ray review

The Gleaners and I: Two Years Later Blu-ray review

Faces Places Blu-ray review

Salut les cubains Blu-ray review

Ulysse Blu-ray review

Ydessa, les ours et etc. Blu-ray review

Agnès de ci de là Varda Blu-ray review

The Beaches of Agnès Blu-ray review

The Complete Films of Agnès Varda Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality of each film is asssessed in the above linked reviews.

The Complete Films of Agnès Varda Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

The Complete Films of Agnès Varda Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Criterion only sent check discs for purposes of these reviews, so I'm unable to authoritatively cover any non disc supplements, though Criterion's website shows a booklet that comes with this release. All on disc supplements are detailed in the appropriate reviews.

The Complete Films of Agnès Varda Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Agnès Varda is one of the most distinctive figures to emerge from French cinema, and this immense set from Criterion is a fitting tribute to her amazingly diverse oeuvre. Not every film here is a complete success, but the sheer volume of output is rather formidable, and the variety of subjects and styles Varda explores is often breathtaking. Technical merits are generally solid, though the lossy audio on many of the shorts is something of a disappointment. The on disc supplements are excellent. Highly recommended.