I recently watched ‘Faces Places’ and decided to take notes throughout the films progression. Here they are!
SYNOPSIS: Legendary filmmaker Agnes Varder hits the road with contemporary artist JR to explore France.
My initial thoughts are that this film is very stylised, but in a most intriguing way. It transforms mundane situations into interesting, through engaging dialogue and unnusual settings.
“Yes, chance has always been my bets assistant” – Agnes Varder. I adore this quote, I find that I relate to it.
- Pasting pictures of local people on the walls of their community. They’re personalising impersonal structures, very thoughtful and clever!
Vague Sequence Descriptions and Thoughts…
- Rural town in France, meet Jeanine and other generational coal miners. Jeanine on her own house, last person living there. Mine workers on the wall.
- Farmer, 2,000 acers in a village of 140 . Tall picture of the owner on his shed.
- Two lovers on a wall. Ancestors on their very own facade they used to reside in, breathing new air into an almost forgotten life.
- Woman on a wall right next to where she works.
The rapport with the local people is infectious, causes laughter and happiness; a genuine connection. All of the participants could be paid actors with their cheeky personalities and insightful comments that draw you in. Consequentially, you feel a connection with people in seconds of knowing them.
- Here we meet Claude the contractor at a salt factory. Introduced by Jimmy who runs the local cinema and knows Agnes. Many of the workers like the cinema.
“So much for dreams” quite a bitter comment that touches the dreamer within all of us, its subtext contains a desperate call for action!
What I found encouraging is that they captured the fish with a point and shoot, they then pasted it on a water tank later. This proves you do not need expensive gear to make art, only a passion for it.
- A plot of land filled with unfinished buildings in a village that was half built, then abandoned. People then come from villages nearby, passersby, those invited.They have re-inhabited the places with faces. People will be where people will be!
- Postman on Agnes’ wall.
- Pony 75 yrs old, lives in his realm.
“You’re playing the wise grandma. You’re playing the spirited young man.” The self-awareness that these creators are conscious of displaying to the audience is not only entertaining but endearing.
- Next we meet a male goat farmer, who burns off their horns. Immediately after we meet a different goat farmer, who is female. She believes in treating the animals humanely as a matter of principle and does not burn off their horns or use milking machines. Agnes and JR feel as if they relate to her beliefs and choose her as their subject. They then put a goat portrait on the shed.
- A german bunker on a deserted beach that JR explored as a kid. This is the first time that both Agnes and JR are unsure of what to past on it. They finally find a portrait of the late Guy Bouridin, a friend of Agnes’; they paste it on the shack on the bunker, creating life in past life
An especially compelling part of the film is the documentation of the ever evolving relationship between Agnes and JR.
- Docks, they are predominantly male-run villages. In retaliation, they have chosen their subjects to be the wives of three of the dock workers. They paste their portraits on the shipping containers, communicating their feminist stance.
The last point of interest is Agnes’ description of the film… “The point is the power of imagination”. The power of imagination indeed! What a fantastic film.
P.S. How could Jean Luc Godard do that to Agnes! That is all I will say as I am unable to discuss this point further, it makes me too emotional.
