The beaches of Agnes

Acclaimed French photographer and filmmaker Varda (The Gleaners) turns her camera on herself in this self-indulgent, overlong, and mostly inscrutable autobiographical documentary. The film jumps nonchronologically from archival footage of films throughout the filmmaker's long and eclectic career to heavily stylized reenactments of key moments in her life to current shots of her visiting people and places from her past and wandering aimlessly on various beaches, where she makes obtuse statements about life, love, and art. The film is at times visually interesting, but it rarely ever makes sense. The few shining moments, such as a touching tribute to Varda's late husband, fellow filmmaker Jacques Demy (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg), and an emotional trip to an exhibition of her early photographs, are, unfortunately, not enough to save this overall silly and incoherent mess. It includes lots of gratuitous full-frontal nudity and numerous bonus features as well. Reservedly recommended only for ardent and undiscriminating Varda fans and movie buffs who can tolerate extreme cuteness, abstraction, and narcissism.-Douglas King, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.