The term meta seems to have been invented to describe Jane B. Par Agnès V. and Kung-Fu Master!, two works by auteur Agnès Varda that not only engage in an indirect conversation with the audience and their knowledge of the lives of Jane Birkin and Varda, but are also in direct conversation with each other. Both made around the same time - when Varda was soon to turn 60 and Birkin had just celebrated her fortieth birthday - they celebrate the passing of time and landmark anniversaries, with a playful, sometimes slightly morbid, tone that might have made them feel too modern for their time. It took almost 30 years for both films to be screened publicly in the United States, Kung-Fu had a small release in the 80s, but Jane B. had never been shown commercially.
Although both films focus primarily on Birkin, they see her through a very distinct lens, in Jane B. Par Agnès V., as the title suggests, she becomes a figure of what it means to be “cinematic”. The quasi-documentary follows Birkin around and sees her show a very intimate side of herself, she speaks about the roles she wishes to inhabit (Joan of Arc, significantly), comments on aging in front of the camera, and even has her daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg appear briefly (one can’t help but wonder if Ms. Gainsbourg threw adolescent fits of “mooooooom, you’re embarrassing me!” In between takes, or when the film was released in theaters, perhaps Ms. Varda was prescient in capturing famous families in their natural habitat).
It makes sense then that Jane B. Par Agnès V. inspired the creation of Kung-Fu Master!, which sees Mary-Jane, a character played by Ms. Birkin fall in love with Julien, a 14-year-old boy played by Ms. Varda’s son Mathieu Demy. The director’s uncompromising, nonjudgmental look at love feels refreshing when watched in our era of endless political correctness, as she presents her story not like a case to be tried by the audience, but as something that happens and must be dealt with. Since both films were made almost back-to-back, most of the characters in both are the same, for example, Charlotte returns in Kung-Fu Master! to play Mary-Jane’s daughter. What a year that must have been at the Birkin household!
Both films were restored and have been preserved in an enchanting Blu-ray set by CineliciousPics titled 2 Films by Agnès Varda , who not only present each film in its own disc, perhaps to avoid any more confusion as to which one is fiction and which one isn’t, but have also included new interviews with Varda, charming trailers and a delightful essay/interview by Miranda July.
Jane B. Par Agnès V. and Kung-Fu Master! are now available on Blu-ray and iTunes.
