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Got this for my birthday. What's the best way to approach this: chronologically or by program? (Note I've seen only a handful of the features and the Gleaners film.)

denti alligator wrote: Sat Aug 31, 2024 12:23 am Got this for my birthday. What's the best way to approach this: chronologically or by program? (Note I've seen only a handful of the features and the Gleaners film.)

Generally when I choose to watch someone’s complete filmography I choose to normally go chronically mainly to see how they evolve overtime so I’d recommend doing that based off personal experience. Also happy late (?) birthday.

Happy birthday! I would generally agree with chronological but there are so many random shorts scattered across the discs that it could be a bit annoying to constantly be switching between them all. (Bear in mind that a lot of the extras were lowkey directed by Varda as well.) I don't think you'd be missing out on anything by tackling the films in a different order. You might just go one disc at a time in Criterion's order, but save disc 1 for last. And if you're thinking these films aren't for you and want to bail without finishing the set, I would at least recommend trying disc 13 ("Visual Artist") before giving up

Thanks. Birthday was a few days ago. I'm tempted to go chronological, but the curation of the programs seems well thought out. Good idea about saving the first for last. Haven't decided which way to proceed yet. It's a nice set, to be sure. I wish they'd do more of these "complete" sets. The Pasolini 101 is nice and all, but why not add the other films and make it complete?

I did the entire box by the way Criterion curated it, and I'm usually a chronological person too. indeed, disc 1 should be last, but otherwise it plays very well in that order. the box was a total blind buy from me and while I absolutely didn't love everything in it, I'm overall a real fan of it and thought it was an awesome experience. definitely count me as someone who prefers Varda in non fiction though, I will say...

either way you do it, hopefully you enjoy!

If you'd like a sortable list with notes on which disc each is on, I put a lot of meticulous work into this Letterboxd list: Agnès Varda exhaustive director filmography https://boxd.it/eoVim

I've kind of randomly worked my way through based on whatever piques my interest at the time. And I started mostly with the highest-rated or "popular" ones on my Letterboxd list. While I haven't watched everything, Varda quickly became one of my favorite directors. Her unique style, particularly in documentaries, is always enjoyable.

Has the MSRP on this changed? I thought it was $250 but now it’s everywhere at $275

EDIT I just confirmed via the press release it was $249.95. Now $274.95. Is this the first Criterion release to increase MSRP for the exact same product?

Its probably all those darn celebrities visiting the closet, picking up the boxset and increasing its scarcity!

Does it come with a huge book? That has perhaps dramatically gone up in production cost since the set's original release?

No doubt production costs for the packaging/book have gone up. Curious to see if the MSRP for any of the other big box sets go up.

Found this useful for contextualising how complete this set is: https://zepfanman.com/2021/12/more-comp ... lmography/

The “Agnès Varda – Pier Paolo Pasolini – New York – 1967” short noted as absent from the Complete box set actually turns up in the Pasolini 101 set, on the disc for Love Meetings, I think.

What I wouldn’t give to see Agnès Varda’s Tupperware commercial!

Matt wrote: Fri Jan 02, 2026 8:22 pm What I wouldn’t give to see Agnès Varda’s Tupperware commercial!

Isn't that an extra on Disc 11 (One Hundred and One Nights)?

In that case, it turns out that I have already given what I would to see it except the trouble of actually putting the disc in the player.

TMDaines wrote: Fri Jan 02, 2026 12:38 pm Found this useful for contextualising how complete this set is: https://zepfanman.com/2021/12/more-comp ... lmography/

La cocotte d’azure (1958) is probably Varda's hardest to find film. Her only film that can't be found online from what I know (even Les Enfants du musée, is around). I've seen it a few years ago and it's very unusual for Varda, as she is out of character, mean and cruel toward the people she filmed in it. It's indeed made of outtakes from Du côté de la côte, Varda does commentary over the images and that's pretty much it.

I wonder why it's never been included anywhere. Maybe because she prefered to hide that one.