''Daguerréotypes'' is a 1976 French documentary by

Agnès Varda Agnès Varda (; born Arlette Varda; 30 May 1928 – 29 March 2019) was a Belgian-born French film director, screenwriter, photographer, and artist. Her pioneering work was central to the development of the widely influential French New Wave film ...

. It features vignettes of life in ''Rue Daguerre'' - a street in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, where the filmmaker lived. Varda was caring for her two-year-old son at the time of filming and could not spend long periods away from her home. Because of this, the entire film is confined within a radius of Varda's home - the length of the electric cables for her equipment. Most of those profiled come from places outside Paris, or even France. Over the course of the film, every subject is asked the same three questions: "''Where did you come from?''", "''When did you get here?''", "''Why did you come?''". The film's name is a complex pun: The street, Rue Daguerre, is named after

Louis Daguerre Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre ( , ; 18 November 1787 – 10 July 1851) was a French artist and photographer, recognized for his invention of the eponymous daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as one of the fathers of photog ...

, inventor of the

Daguerreotypes Daguerreotype (; french: daguerréotype) was the first publicly available photographic process; it was widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process. Invented by Louis Daguerre an ...

method of photographic printing. During a voiceover in the film, Varda explains that the business owners and occupants of Rue Daguerre are her 'types', in reference to typologies both as the photographic style and practices of social classification that Varda was critical of. At various points the subjects assume formal, static pose as if in mid-19th century photo portraiture.

References

External links

* French documentary films Films directed by Agnès Varda Films set in Paris 1976 documentary films 1976 films 1970s French-language films 1970s French films French-language documentary films {{1970s-documentary-film-stub