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Abstract(s)
"Jane B. par Agnès V." resulted from a collaboration between British actress Jane Birkin and the French film director Agnès Varda, and as the title seems to entail is a portrait of the former by the latter. Although to some extent that is the case; the ontological and artistic architecture of the film is more complicated than that. To start with, the two women are placed on a par, as artistic equals and owners of a shared imaginary, which points towards a reversibility of expression and representation, in which both authorship and depiction seem to fluctuate throughout the film. Beneath that surface level, however, Varda’s own portrayal is more important than Birkin’s. This hybrid self-reflexive film positioned hallway between fact and fiction, is a forerunner of "Les plages d’Agnès" (2008), evincing many of the same techniques in embryo. Varda (re)presents herself in the film behind the camera and as a strong enunciator of the filmic authorial discourse, revealing the apparatus and looking straight at the camera lens. This corresponds to a full-blown self-portrait in which the most appropriate film title would be "Agnès V." through "Jane B". The film undertakes an operation of “persona-lization” of both women but especially Varda, proving that the corporeal is true. Varda’s persona-lization is essentially professional, presenting the artist as creator, the hallmark of the "ars poetica" film; but imbued with an assumed authorial discourse on her own art, the most relevant aspect of what I term “cine-vison”. Thus, the film is foremost a cinematic essay.
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Keywords
Self-portrait Cine-vision Persona-lization Self-reflexivity Film essay Agnès Varda