Varda's Farewell. Images of Sand, Mist, Evanescence.

Agnès Varda’s cinema represents a sort of kinesis: a demonstration of what it means to grasp the change in progress to orient it, to mark it through one’s own voice, one’s own gaze. In her latest documentary film, Varda par Agnès (Id., 2019), the director tells her story from the stage of a Parisian theater, with the audience in front of her. It is a farewell work in which an important role is given by the different segments taken from her previous works. Varda rethinks and re-examines those images, the events that have occurred, the changes experienced, and, above all, the narrative thread that holds it all together: «It’s not so much about telling the same stories again, but rather about talking of structures, intentions, sources of inspiration» . Rediscovering the origins of her artistic thought, Varda indicates the main aspects of her work: Invention, Creation, and Sharing. In this retrospective vision, a peculiar point emerges: talking about her life and her work means developing communication with others, or rather, talking about others. Varda's gaze represents an act of sharing, a reflection on the need to pay attention to others, tell about them, and create a feeling of proximity. Her previous works, such as Daguerreotypes (Id., 1975), Jane B. par Agnès V. (Jane B. for Agnès V., 1988), Jacquot de Nantes (Id., 1991), Les glaneurs et la glaneuse (The Gleaners and I, 2000), Les plages d'Agnès (The Beaches of Agnès, 2008) had already highlighted how a personal, private, autobiographical story can gradually become a narration open to others, attentive to creating a common identity. Change and sharing become essential elements to understand a further aspect of Varda's cinema: a profound reflection on the concept of time .