Eugene Hernandez: Paris, City of Cinema (or, In Bed with Agnes)

Outside the UGC Odeon cinema in Paris over the weekend. Photo by Eugene Hernandez/indieWIRE

“It’s a kind of strange film you know,” Agnes Varda smiled, talking about “Beaches,” an unconventional bio-doc that not only explores her own life but also the second half of the 20th century. She was there for pivotal post-war moments: China in the late ‘50s, Cuba in the early ‘60s, Los Angeles with Jacques Demy and Jim Morrison, Agnes Varda was even the cover of Andy Warhol’s first issue of Interview Magazine with a couple of nude Warhol superstars.

“Sometimes I was at the right place at the right time,” she said on Friday. “For each scene I had to invent images of cinema to make it agreebale to see and, in a way slightly meaningful. But never heavy.” She continued, “My life is not heavy, my life is not important enough to make it heavy.”

Talking for nearly ninety minutes, only pausing briefly at times to move her leg or readjust a blanket, Agnes Varda seemed at peace. “I have received a lot of awards…gold and silver animals of all kinds: lion, bear, dog. It’s a little zoo,” she said, “I am delighted to be in the fifteen [Oscar short list], because it brings some light to the film.” But, she added, “The real reward is the reaction of audiences.”

As with most documentaries in theaters, ticket sales have been, in her words, “discreet,” but Agnes Varda said, “If there were a box office of appreciation, if there where a box office of pleasure, we would break every (record).” She’s been struck by the emotions her film has stirred among audiences.

“I make films trying to reach people and be unforgettable, if possible,” she said, “This is the best you can do if you make films.” She added, “If we make a little money for me, it’s more than enough, what I want is to reach people.”

Filmmaker Agnes Varda, in the courtyard at her house on Rue Daguerre in Paris. Image courtesy ciné-Tamaris.

A few weeks ago, I finally saw Agnes Varda’s stunning “Cléo de 5 à 7” during the New York Film Critics Circle retrospective at BAM. As I wrote on my blog at the time, film critic Dana Stevens spoke of Varda characters who are often roaming and thinking, or thinking about roaming. Agnes Varda might use the term “searching.”

Near the end of our conversation, I asked her if there is a message that can be gleaned from her own work, the French New Wave, or even her own life.

“How do you feel about what you do? And, how do you feel about what you have seen?” Agnes Varda asked in return. And then, she offered the question, “Do you want to be a searcher?”

I pondered these questions as she spoke, distracted and reflecting momentarily on how these ideas refer to her life (and perhaps my own). And then I asked her to elaborate.

“Some people are searchers,” Agnes Varda explained, “They search for some way different to approach the material of cinema. In the writing, in the style, [they] structure a film differently, search for a different structure.”

“Are you interested in innovators? In good films?” she continued, “Do you have a family? And, if you have a family, try to know them, their films, the people…”

Linking our cinematic choices to the daily decisions we make about what we consume, she added, “Where is the food? What do you eat? Some good films, they feed you. They feed you with intelligence and spirit or a love for people or the discovery of cinema.”

Friday’s conversation with Agnes Varda sent me searching for films (and food). She urged me to see Jacques Demy’s 1982 musical, “Une Chambre en ville,” a love story set amidst a ‘50s labor strike. So, I set out to find the movie.

While walking around Paris on Saturday night looking for the DVD, I wandered by cinemas that were showing two new movies I am really anxious to see, Brillante Mendoza’s “Kinatay” from Cannes and Eugene Green’s latest, “A Religiosa Portuguesa” (The Portuguese Nun), which has been nearly absent on the fall festival circuit. Like New York, and many other metropolitan cities, on any given night there are are a daunting number of cinematic options. On Saturday night, I sought other nourishment. I missed both movies in favor of a four hour meal at Hidden Kitchen, a ten course dining experience (created with market fresh local ingredients) alongside sixteen strangers inside a private Paris home. I met some interesting folks and we talked more about food than film.

However, at Cine Corner on Rue Ecole de Médecine (near the Blvd St. Michel), about to give up my DVD search, I found a restored version of Jacques Demy’s “Une Chambre en ville.”

Can’t wait.

Eugene Hernandez is the Editor-in-Chief & Co-Founder of indieWIRE and can be reached on his blog, through Facebook or via Twitter: @eug.

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