Jacquot de Nantes (1991)

Director:

Agnès Varda

Writers:

Jacques Demy (memoirs)
Agnès Varda (writer)

Release Date:

25 June 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

Jacquot Demy is a little boy at the end of the thirties. His father owns a garage and his mother is a hairdresser...

Plot Keywords:

Cinema | Vocation | Garage | Childhood | 1940s

Cast

Philippe Maron	...	Jacquot 1
Edouard Joubeaud	...	Jacquot 2
Laurent Monnier	...	Jacquot 3
Brigitte De Villepoix	...	Marilou, la mere
Daniel Dublet	...	Raymond, le pere
Clément Delaroche	...	Yvon 1
Rody Averty	...	Yvon 2
Hélène Pors	...	Reine 1
Marie-Sidonie Benoist	...	Reine 2
Jérémie Bernard	...	Yannick 1
Cédric Michaud	...	Yannick 2
Julien Mitard	...	Rene 1
Jérémie Bader	...	Rene 2
Guillaume Navaud	...	Cousin Joel
Fanny Lebreton	...	La petite refugiee

Also Known As:

Jacquot

Runtime:

USA:118 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White | Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:Btl (2003) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Champtoceaux, Maine-et-Loire, France

Company:

Canal+

Trivia:

A tribute to Agnès Varda's husband of 33 years, Jacques Demy. The scenes of Demy's childhood were shot in the actual house that he grew up in.

Movie Connections:

References Goupi mains rouges (1943)

Soundtrack:

Encore un petit verre de vin

Demy for Dummies, a reference guide for the rest of us.

It will probably help if you did a little reading up on what the movie was about before you watched it. For a person who likes to start a movie cold, the film confused me in the beginning. Then in due course of time I understood the rhythm but was still confused with the alteration of colour and B&W shots of essentially the same scene.

So the movie gets off to a bad start by assuming that audience members are already in the know. It was interesting to see how various aspects of Demy's film making were influenced by his childhood experiences. However as in the case of most artists and intellectuals, this is to be expected.

Other than providing an insight, the interspersing of Demy's movie clips in between also provided a sense of familiarity and comedy.

Having been made by the wife of the main protagonist, the film felt fairly self-indulgent. It was like Shahjehan constructing the Taj Mahal - a beautiful construction for personal satisfaction for the others to see and admire.

The story is fairly simple, straight forward and predictable but its execution is charming. I for one came off this film highly inspired and more determined to follow my dreams.

4 stars for the optimism, feelgoodness and acting.