Dir. Agnès Varda, 1988, France, 93 min, DCP, Color
With Jane Birkin, Philippe Léotard, Jean-Pierre Léaud
In French with English subtitles

The interests, obsessions, and fantasies of two singular artists converge in this inspired 1988 collaboration between lauded director Agnès Varda and her longtime friend, celebrated actress Jane Birkin. Made over the course of a year and motivated by Birkin’s fortieth birthday—a milestone that admittedly caused her some anxiety—Jane B. par Agnès V. contrasts the private, reflective Birkin with Birkin the icon. Varda casts her as a classical muse, a femme fatale, a Spanish dancer, Joan of Arc, and even a deadpan Laurel opposite a clownish Hardy in a fanciful slapstick spoof. Made in the spirit of pure, uninhibited play, this free-flowing dual portrait unfolds as a shared reverie between two women as they collapse the boundaries between artist and subject.

Join us for a Happy Hour from 5:30–7:30pm to kick off our January CinéSalon series, Being Birkin! Mix, mingle, and enjoy a glass of wine. Open to attendees of both screenings on January 9th.

“Jane B. par Agnes V. is an exemplary feminist work, one in which two female artists, self-aware but hardly self-conscious, create beauty by exchanging notes.” –New York Times