Arts Design

FACES PLACES: YIN YANG PROGRESS

Woman stands in the doorway of her house, contemplating her giant portrait, by artist JR, pasted on the wall. Still from “Faces Places.” Film by Agnès Varda and JR.

Still from “Faces Places.” Film by Agnès Varda and JR. Courtesy of Cohen Media.

“FACES PLACES” - AGNÉS VARDA & JR

Progress can be a double-edged sword. At first blush, it is positive, “forward” moving, with the expectation that the new condition or situation is better than the past. Progress is something that civilization is compelled to strive for -- an eternal inherent quest. But it is not always true that new is better than old. And it is not necessarily good that “advances” wipe out what came before, as memories, heritage, traditions, and meaningful ways of life are lost.

“Faces Places,” a new award-winning documentary film by Agnès Varda and JR, explores the lives, livelihoods of ordinary people, living in small villages and rural areas in France, where time has passed them by, where “progress” has left them in the lurch -- and, through JR’s art, it lifts them up, above it all, honoring them in a true progress of human spirit.

The original French title of “Faces Places,” is “Visages Villages,” meaning “Faces Villages,” reflecting the inextricable relationships between people and their home bases. Interestingly, the film is also a monument to the relationship between the filmmaker Varda and the artist JR, both French and 55 years apart in age. They are unlikely kindred spirits.

The Inside Out Project Van, with artist JR and filmmaker Agnès Varda.

Varda and JR travel in JR’s “Inside Out” van to small towns and across the countrysides of France. While these areas are rich in history, they have been threatened and degraded by the economic, social and technological “progress” of modern times.

Agnès Varda and JR pose in front of a mural by JR in a still from their film, “Faces Places.

The van is equipped with a photo booth and a large-format printer, which help to document the lives of the people Varda and JR encounter along the way. It was originally deployed in 2011 for the “Inside Out Project,” an international participatory art project that took photo portraits of people, blew them up to billboard sizes, and pasted them on buildings, bridges, trains, and other public “canvasses” to call attention to their stories. To date, over 350,000 people from more than 140 countries have participate. The van was funded by JR’s winnings from the 2011 TED Prize.

A portrait of miners on a building where they once lived, by artist JR.

While they share some commonality of circumstance -- loss of their ways of life -- the people in “Faces Places” each come from their own unique place. JR takes their portraits, prints them in epic-size and emblazons them on on the walls of the places that matter to them them most -- their homes, their factories, their barns -- places with layers of memory.

Jeanine stands in front of her portrait pasted on the wall of her house, taken by artist JR for film “Faces Places.”

The film begins with a look at Jeanine, a woman who clings to her life in a former coal mining town. She’s the only one left living in a row of miners’ homes that are soon slated for demolition. She and her former neighbors lament their cultural and emotional losses.

JR takes a photo portrait of Jeanine in his van, enlarges it to huge proportions, and pastes it on the wall of her house. It magnifies and honors her to heroic scale, celebrating the life of this “ordinary” woman, as if she were a famous historic figure.

Villagers gather in front of their portraits, taken by JR, for film “Faces Places,” by Agnès Varda and JR.

Varda’s previous personal-documentary work, including “Daguerréotypes,” “The Gleaners and I,” and “The Beaches of Agnès,” and JR’s previous installations both present the heroism of daily life as lived by typically unsung heroes -- factory workers, farmers, waitresses, laborers, the poor and unemployed, and the exploited.

Farmer stands in front of his portrait, taken by artist JR, pasted on the wall of his barn, in film “Faces Places,” by Agnès Varda and JR.

The “good old days” takes issue with progress. And progress is sought because there are inherent problems with the ways things used to be done. The film shines a light on the need for balance.

Filmmaker Agnès Varda in stands in front of JR’s portrait of a goat in still from film “Faces Places.”

A farmer who prefers to respect his goats, leaving their horns intact while commercial farmers remove them to prevent fighting, has a point. A mailman now delivers mail via truck but preferred the old days, when he did so via bicycle -- he could better take in the scenery, get exercise and fresh air, and have a chance to schmooze with people as he dropped off their envelopes. He too has a point.

Old portrait of blacksmith and his wife. Still from “Faces Places” film by Agnès Varda and JR.

The film approaches each life it encounters with curiosity, empathy, and dignity. It treads lightly on politics. It suspends judgement as it observes resistance to change. It looks at lives seldom examined by popular media, celebrating them - even iconizing them and, in doing so, “Faces Places,” becomes an iconic documentary film.

Filmmaker Agnes Varda and artist JR at work filming their new documentary film, “Faces Places.”

As they come to learn about the people they meet along their journey, JR and Varda come to learn about themselves. Ironically, Varda is suffering from a medical condition that is causing her to go blind, while JR never removes his trademark sunglasses. Varda lets it all hang out, while JR remains, as always, anonymous.

Poster for “Faces Places,” award-winning film by Agnès Varda and JR.

“Faces Places” is a heartwarming and inspiring film you may well watch again over time. Get the DVD here.

Filmmaker Agnès Varda thumbs her nose at an old portrait of herself in “Faces Places,” a documentary film by Varda and JR.

Check out more of Agnès Varda documentary and dramatic films, which film historians have cited as being central to the development of the French New Wave Film movement.

“Faces Places” won the L'Œil d'or award at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Ceiling mural by artist JR installed on the dome of the Pantheon in Paris.

You can see more of JR’s works, as he exhibits freely in the streets of the world, catching the attention of people who are not typical museum visitors. Check out BN post, A Beautiful Monumental Fool, about JR’s transformation of the Louvre.

JR is represented by Galerie Perrotin; he has had shows in Paris, Hong-Kong, Miami and New York. JR is also represented by Lazarides in London, Magda Danysz in Shanghai, Simon Studer Art in Geneva and Springmann Gallery in Berlin.

Filmmaker Agnès Varda and artist JR pose in front of JR’s mural in their film “Faces Places.

And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Mind/Body, Soul/Impact, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Arts/Design, and Place/Time, Daily Fix posts.

Filmmaker Agnès Varda and artist JR sit on bench by a river in their film “Faces Places.”

Want more stories like this? Sign up for our weekly BN Newsletter, Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr. Join our BeautifulNow Community and connect with the most beautiful things happening in the world right now!

Portrait of a young man emblazoned on a relic in still from “Faces Places,” film by Agnès Varda and JR.

Do you have amazing photos? Enter them in this week’s BN Photo Contest. We run new creative contest every week!

Filmmaker Agnès Varda and artist JR at the Louvre. Still from film “Faces Places.”

IMAGE CREDITS:

Image: Still from “Faces Places.” Film by Agnès Varda and JR. Courtesy of Cohen Media.
Image: “Agnès Varda and JR in “Faces Places.” Film by Agnès Varda and JR. Courtesy of Cohen Media.
Image: “Agnès Varda and JR in “Faces Places.” Film by Agnès Varda and JR. Courtesy of Cohen Media.
Image: “Agnès Varda and JR in “Faces Places.” Film by Agnès Varda and JR. Courtesy of Cohen Media.
Image: Jeanine stands in front of her portrait, taken by artist JR for film “Faces Places. Film by Agnès Varda and JR. Courtesy of Cohen Media.
Image: Still from “Faces Places.” Film by Agnès Varda and JR. Courtesy of Cohen Media.
Image: Still from “Faces Places.” Film by Agnès Varda and JR. Courtesy of Cohen Media.
Image: Agnès Varda in “Faces Places.” Film by Agnès Varda and JR. Courtesy of Cohen Media.
Image: Still from “Faces Places.” Film by Agnès Varda and JR. Courtesy of Cohen Media.
Image: “Agnès Varda and JR in “Faces Places.” Film by Agnès Varda and JR. Courtesy of Cohen Media.
Image: Poster for “Faces Places.” Film by Agnès Varda and JR. Courtesy of Cohen Media.
Image: “Agnès Varda in “Faces Places.” Film by Agnès Varda and JR. Courtesy of Cohen Media.
Image: by JR. “Inside Out, Au Panthéon!” Paris, France. Courtesy of Galerie Perrotin.
Image: “Agnès Varda and JR in “Faces Places.” Film by Agnès Varda and JR. Courtesy of Cohen Media.
Image: Filmmaker Agnès Varda and artist JR sit on bench by a river in film “Faces Places.” Film by Agnès Varda and JR. Courtesy of Cohen Media.
Image: Still from “Faces Places.” Film by Agnès Varda and JR. Courtesy of Cohen Media.
Image: Filmmaker Agnès Varda and artist JR at the Louvre. Still from film “Faces Places.” Film by Agnès Varda and JR. Courtesy of Cohen Media.