Dir. Agnès Varda. 1988, 80 mins. DCP. With Jane Birkin, Mathieu Demy, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lou Doillon. Jane Birkin delivers one of her finest performances as a 40-year-old divorcee who falls in love with Julien, a fourteen-year-old video game geek. Despite such a scandalous premise (the script is based on an original story by Birkin), Varda's treatment is gentle and humane, empathetic rather than damning. Filmed alongside Varda and Birkin's documentary collaboration Jane B. for Agnès V., real-life connections abound, from Varda and Jacques Demy's son Mathieu Demy cast as Julien, to Birkin appearing on screen with her brother, parents, and daughters Lou Doillon and Charlotte Gainsbourg. "In many respects, another love letter from Varda to Birkin, showcasing the actress’s quicksilver shifts of feeling, her beguiling blend of wry self-consciousness and at-times startling emotional fervor."—Matt Connolly, Reverse Shot
