2. The Incipit of Beaches of Agnès (Les plages d’Agnès) An Installation in the Form of a Self-portrait

Abstract

Agnès Varda’s recent death at 90 was received by various newspaper or site titles: “Influential French New Wave Filmmaker” ( The New York Times ), “Beloved French New Wave Director” ( The Guardian ). Paying tribute to Agnès Varda by analyzing Beaches of Agnès, her 2006 autobiographical film, José Moure draws attention to the fact that it has the singular form of a narrated puzzle from which (the film itself intermingled with its “making of”) a new kind of documentary emerges. (Dominique Chateau, in chapter 14, completes the tribute by considering Varda’s forays into the world of contemporary art.) Through her most recent films, as well as her exhibitions, Agnès Varda can be considered a major figure in post-cinema.