Agnes Varda Filmography: Jacqout de Nantes (1991)
Jaquot de Nantes was first conceived when Agnes Varda’s husband and fellow filmmaker, Jaques Demy, began to write about his childhood after he had been diagnosed with cancer. According to Varda, she read what he had been writing and told Demy that he should make it into a film. As he was too fatigued from his sickness, Demy told Varda to make it herself. The film follows Jacques in three stages of his early life: as a young boy devoted to puppet shows, as a pre-teenager just discovering his love for filmmaking, and as a young adult struggling to convince his parents that he should pursue film. Jacquot was filmed in Demy’s hometown of Nantes— even using his actual childhood home and the garage his father owned. The film predominantly consists of black and white “re-enactments” (though they are really more narrative than re-enactments). It also includes contemporary images of Demy in color— mostly through close-up.
As per usual with Varda, this hybrid narrative/documentary film from is beautifully constructed. The black and white shots are meditative and the color shots are bright and energetic. The three young boys who play Jacquot did a wonderful job and I particularly enjoyed the performance of Brigitte De Villepoix as Jacquot’s mother. I am obsessed with how Varda, as a documentarian, uses film any way she wants. She has no desire to stick within the usual confines of what we view as “documentary” or “narrative film.” Though I believe Varda views Jacquot de Nantes as a narrative work, the film defies medium/genre - it’s a fictional film based on real events but both Varda and Demy’s narration, and the intermittent closeup shots of Demy ground it in reality both literally and metaphorically.
I wonder how I would feel about this film if I hadn’t already seen Varda by Agnes—Varda’s last film—in which she goes through her entire career as a photographer, filmmaker, and artist. In the film Varda describes the film as kind of a goodbye to Jacques— a way for Varda to deal with the fact that her husband was dying and accompany him through that process. In a way it’s a film that does require a bit of additional context to understand in that if you have never heard of Jacques Demy and are going into the film blind, the cuts to his films may be a bit jarring or confusing. Additionally, if you don’t know that Demy is Varda’s husband (or, in that case, that he is dying) you would probably miss some of the more subtle sentiments in the film— things that naturally come out in many documentaries and which are remolded through this hybrid-fictional form. However, I do believe that one can enjoy this film without prior knowledge of Varda or Demy. Without context, it is still an engaging story of youth juxtaposed with age through closeups of Demy’s hands, grey hairs, and eyes.
For me, the narrative simplicity of Jacquot de Nantes not only gives a tender portrayal of a loved one but also a delicate image of the beginnings and ends of a life— an experience accessible to any viewer who happens to come across this film. Varda is ever-present in her documentaries and, though she doesn’t appear physically, her presence as Demy’s loved one cannot be missed.
I had high expectations for this film and am really glad that I got to finally watch it. Definitely one of my favorites of Varda so far. Hopefully this weekend I’ll be able to watch some shorts!
See you soon,
Sofia
