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Releasing August 11th.



A founder of the French New Wave who became an international art-house icon, Agnès Varda was a fiercely independent, restlessly curious visionary whose work was at once personal and passionately committed to the world around her. In an abundant career in which she never stopped expanding the notion of what a movie can be, Varda forged a unique cinematic vocabulary that frequently blurs the boundaries between narrative and documentary, and entwines loving portraits of her friends, her family, and her own inner world with a social consciousness that was closely attuned to the 1960s counterculture, the women's liberation movement, the plight of the poor and socially marginalized, and the ecology of our planet. This comprehensive collection places Varda's filmography in the context of her parallel work as a photographer and multimedia artist-all of it a testament to the radical vision, boundless imagination, and radiant spirit of a true original for whom every act of creation was a vital expression of her very being.

PROGRAMS AND FILMS
Agnès Forever - Varda by Agnès (2019), Les 3 boutons (2015)
Early Varda - La Pointe Courte (1955), Ô saisons, ô châteaux (1958), Du côté de la côte (1958)
Around Paris - Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Les fiancés du pont Macdonald (1962), L'opéra-mouffe (1958), Les dites cariatides (1984), T'as de beaux escaliers, tu sais (1986)
Rue Daguerre - Daguerréotypes (1975), Le lion volatil (2003)
Married Life - Le bonheur (1965), Les créatures (1966), Elsa la Rose (1966)
In California - Uncle Yanco (1968), Black Panthers (1970), Lions Love (. . . and Lies) (1969), Mur Murs (1981), Documenteur (1981)
Her Body, Herself - One Sings, the Other Doesn't (1977), Réponse de femmes (1975), Plaisir d'amour en Iran (1977)
No Shelter - Vagabond (1985), 7 p., cuis., s. de b. . . . (à saisir) (1985)
Jane B. - Jane B. par Agnès V. (1988), Kung-Fu Master! (1988)
Jacques Demy - Jacquot de Nantes (1991), The Young Girls Turn 25 (1993), The World of Jacques Demy (1995)
Simon Cinéma - One Hundred and One Nights (1995)
La glaneuse - The Gleaners and I (2000), The Gleaners and I: Two Years Later (2002)
Visual Artist - Faces Places, codirected with JR (2017), Salut les cubains (1964), Ulysse (1982), Ydessa, les ours et etc. . . . (2004)
Here and There - Agnès de ci de là Varda (2011)
Beaches - The Beaches of Agnès (2008)

FIFTEEN-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION COLLECTOR’S SET FEATURES
Digital restorations of thirty-nine films, including the first home-video presentations of Les créatures, Jacquot de Nantes, and the television series Agnès de ci de là Varda
Introductions by director Agnès Varda
Nausicaa, a once-banned 1970 television film directed by Varda
New programs featuring actor Jane Birkin; Varda’s children, Mathieu Demy and Rosalie Varda; and scholar Kelley Conway
Segments directed by Varda from the 1983 French television program Une minute pour une image
Programs on Varda’s work as a visual artist, including Quelques veuves de Noirmoutier, a 2006 television presentation of one of her installations
Over seven hours of archival programs featuring Varda, many of them also directed by her
Archival interviews and tributes featuring Varda’s friends, family, and key collaborators
Rare footage from unfinished features and commercials
Behind-the-scenes footage, video essays, and trailers
PLUS: A lavishly illustrated 200-page book, featuring notes on the films and essays on Varda’s life and work by writers Amy Taubin, Michael Koresky, Ginette Vincendeau, So Mayer, Alexandra Hidalgo, and Rebecca Bengal, as well as a selection of Varda’s photography and images of her installation art

Married Life - [...] Les créatures (1966)

Literal LOLs. Boy, they really worked for that category placement

A nice looking set for Varda’s fans. I like the pic with her and the film cans, that should be the actual cover instead of the inner one!

Also, this lends credence to Criterion working out a deal with Cohen for a complete Kiarostami box!

domino harvey wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 4:50 pm Also, this lends credence to Criterion working out a deal with Cohen for a complete Kiarostami box!

Cohen doesn't own The Wind Will Carry Us anymore.

The way the discs are organized are a little unclear based on the individual covers/groupings in the listings but I'll also just flag that it seems likely Criterion will be doing quite a lot to squeeze these 39 films onto 15 discs, half the number as the Bergman set had with the same amount of films. (I know some of them are not quite feature-length so should work better than others, but still am a little concerned!)

Not just some, many of them are shorts

Yeah, there are a ton of shorts here. All of the Varda's I like I already have, but it is always good to have these kind of sets available for libraries and beginners.

As far as I can tell, she made less than two dozen feature length works, and most of the features she made aren't terribly long. They could probably squeeze the feature length works into ten or eleven of these discs without compromise, leaving four or five whole discs worth of storage for extras and shorts. I think they have plenty of room to arrange it better than that without, again, compromising the content.

EDIT: Also, the set's specs list the films by program, and there are fifteen programs, so I just assume each disc will constitute a program.

Anyone going to do a breakdown of what is “missing” from this set?

Oooof. I knew it was coming, but it still hurts. I already have the Cinelicious Jane B. disc, the AE set, and the Eclipse set... I'm guessing the obscurity I'm most curious about—One Hundred and One Nights—is too obscure to get a standalone considering it didn't even play either of the local retros last year, and since they're cramming the Eclipse set on one disc, it won't be a huge upgrade for Mur Murs or Documenteur, two I'm oddly fond of...

TMDaines wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 5:21 pm Anyone going to do a breakdown of what is “missing” from this set?

One thing I immediately notice is missing is "Homage a Zgougou," which would be a delightful easter egg to tuck away somewhere.

Do we know there’s a 1:1 program to disc correlation? Or could one disc fit two programs and another program be spread over two?

onedimension wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 5:37 pm Do we know there’s a 1:1 program to disc correlation? Or could one disc fit two programs and another program be spread over two?

15 programs, 15 discs - I’d wager it’s 1:1

senseabove wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 5:29 pm

TMDaines wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 5:21 pm Anyone going to do a breakdown of what is “missing” from this set?

One thing I immediately notice is missing is "Homage a Zgougou," which would be a delightful easter egg to tuck away somewhere.

IIRC it was an extra for Gleaners so it might be part of the archival stuff? Then again so was Gleaners Two Years Later...

I'd assume it'll be
Disc 1: Agnès Forever
Varda by Agnès (2019) - 119
Les 3 boutons (2015) - 11

Disc 2: Early Varda
La Pointe Courte (1955) - 80
Ô saisons, ô châteaux (1958) - 22
Du côté de la côte (1958) - 25

Disc 3: Around Paris
Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) - 89
Les fiancés du pont Macdonald (1962) - 5
L'opéra-mouffe (1958) - 16
Les dites cariatides (1984) - 12
T'as de beaux escaliers, tu sais (1986) - 3

Disc 4: Rue Daguerre
Daguerréotypes (1975) -79
Le lion volatil (2003) - 12

Disc 5: Married Life
Le bonheur (1965) - 80
Les créatures (1966) - 94
Elsa la Rose (1966) - 20

Disc 6: In California
Uncle Yanco (1968) - 19
Black Panthers (1970) - 28
Lions Love (. . . and Lies) (1969) - 112
Mur Murs (1981) - 82
Documenteur (1981) -64

Disc 7: Her Body, Herself (I'd assume that this will be the same disc as the solo One Sings, the Other Doesn't)
One Sings, the Other Doesn't (1977) -121
121, Réponse de femmes (1975) - 9
Plaisir d'amour en Iran (1977) - 7

Disc 8: No Shelter
Vagabond (1985) - 105
7 p., cuis., s. de b. . . . (à saisir) (1985) - 28

Disc 9: Jane B.
Jane B. par Agnès V. (1988) - 98
Kung-Fu Master! (1988) - 79

Disc 10: Jacques Demy
Jacquot de Nantes (1991) - 119
The Young Girls Turn 25 (1993) - 67
The World of Jacques Demy (1995) - 92

Disc 11: Simon Cinéma
One Hundred and One Nights (1995) - 104

Disc 12: La glaneuse
The Gleaners and I (2000) - 82
The Gleaners and I: Two Years Later (2002) - 63

Disc 13: Visual Artist
Faces Places, codirected with JR (2017) - 93
Salut les cubains (1964) - 30
Ulysse (1982) - 22
Ydessa, les ours et etc. . . . (2004) - 44

Disc 14: Here and There
Agnès de ci de là Varda (2011) - 235

Disc 15: Beaches
The Beaches of Agnès (2008) -112

OK - so the Demy disc should be the only real potential problem assuming they’re not allocating tons of extras on the other longer discs.

Ribs wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 5:50 pm OK - so the Demy disc should be the only real potential problem assuming they’re not allocating tons of extras on the other longer discs.

And "In California"

I think everyone should definitely panic

dwk wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 5:51 pm

Ribs wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 5:50 pm OK - so the Demy disc should be the only real potential problem assuming they’re not allocating tons of extras on the other longer discs.

And "In California"

It’s definitely a little weird they’ve collapsed the entire Eclipse down to one disc - wonder if that might portend something about how the range could be brought back to life?

domino harvey wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 5:54 pm I think everyone should definitely panic

I had thrown my Essential Demy set in the trash at first but now I have retrieved it

Is anyone going to mention that Criterion is releasing an extensive, blu-ray, box set by the greatest woman filmmaker of all time? No? Okay, I'll move along.

swo17 wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 5:58 pm

domino harvey wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 5:54 pm I think everyone should definitely panic

I had thrown my Essential Demy set in the trash at first but now I have retrieved it

Next time, please be considerate and throw your momentarily unwanted box sets in my trash

Fortisquince wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 6:02 pm Is anyone going to mention that Criterion is releasing an extensive, blu-ray, box set by the greatest woman filmmaker of all time? No? Okay, I'll move along.

Grumble grumble the color timing is going to be bastardized for all the films grumble grumble.

Fortisquince wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 6:02 pm Is anyone going to mention that Criterion is releasing an extensive, blu-ray, box set by the greatest woman filmmaker of all time? No? Okay, I'll move along.

But they already did.

Fortisquince wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 6:02 pm Is anyone going to mention that Criterion is releasing an extensive, blu-ray, box set by the greatest woman filmmaker of all time? No? Okay, I'll move along.

I'm still picking myself up off the floor.

This is genuinely exciting, and more than I ever could have hoped for.

Fortisquince wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 6:02 pm Is anyone going to mention that Criterion is releasing an extensive, blu-ray, box set by the greatest woman filmmaker of all time? No? Okay, I'll move along.

We're all mentioning the Varda set. You're in the thread devoted to it.