Dir. Agnès Varda. 1988, 97 mins. DCP. This expressionistic and reflexive portrait of iconic actor and singer Jane Birkin abandons a traditional bio-pic format in favor of candid moments alternating with freewheeling, genre-variable fantasy sequences headlined by Birkin herself. Varda's relationship with her subject echoes with a larger exploration of that between director and performer, while Jane the woman, wife, and mother ricochets against Birkin the star and pop cultural legend. "While the word “feminism” is never uttered in this movie, Jane B. par Agnès V. is an exemplary feminist work, one in which two female artists, self-aware but hardly self-conscious, create beauty by exchanging notes."—Glenn Kenny, The New York Times
