For most prominent people, the biopics made about them are usually made by others that know of them, but not personally. Because of this, Jacquot de Nantes is a special one. Filmmaker Agnès Varda recreates the childhood of her fellow filmmaker Jacques Demy through a mix of memories only they could have accessed as a married couple. She recreates most of his happy childhood in black-and-white film, inter stitching them with scenes from Demy’s own movies as well as rare bursts of color from the stories that made him. She also adds the few clips Demy took for film before illness kept him from directing. The footage is already unparalleled compared to most biopic makers’, but with Varda’s signature style, Jacquot de Nantes is a moving ode to Demy, the movies that made him, and the love that they shared.
Jacquot Demy, the son of a garage owner and a hairdresser, is fascinated by cinema and decides to pursue his dream of becoming a filmmaker by any means necessary.
While growing up during World War II, Jacques Demy finds an escape from the turbulence of the times through stories– puppet shows, fairy tales, operas, and finally, movies.
Biopics tend to either focus on the life of the artist or the style, but this one understands that both come hand in hand.
This is quite possibly the most romantic film you will ever see.
