Dagguerréotypes

1976, dir Agnès Varda, 80 min, DCP

“One of the great modern documentaries, Agnès Varda’s 1976 portrait of shopkeepers on the street where she lives – Rue Daguerre, in Paris – established a new genre, affectionate anthropology. Starting with the quirky pharmacy where her teen-age daughter, Rosalie, buys homemade perfumes, Varda peeps in on the rounds of commerce that keep the street vital. In the process, she exalts the sights and sounds, the very savor of daily life – the crust of fresh-baked baguettes, the alkaline allure of fresh-cut steaks, the sumptuousness of handstitched fabrics.” — Richard Brody, The New Yorker