Ladies of Burlesque: Agnès Varda's ONE SINGS, THE OTHER DOESN'T
The Royal Cinema
608 College St, Toronto, ON M6G 1B4, Canada
Toronto
Ontario
43.6553504
-79.41458169999999
“A buoyant hymn to sisterly solidarity rooted in the hard-won victories of a generation of women, ONE SINGS, THE OTHER DOESN’T is one of Agnès Varda’s warmest and most politically trenchant films, a feminist musical for the ages” (Criterion).
In March of 2019, we lost cinema’s godmother—Agnès Varda, the whimsical feminist filmmaking pioneer who revolutionized filmmaking and ushered in the Left Bank faction of the French New Wave (she was also a great friend to cats). With a career spanning an unprecedented seven decades and making celebrated films in her late eighties, Varda is the ultimate cineaste. Ladies of Burlesque is celebrating her legacy with a screening of ONE SINGS, THE OTHER DOESN’T.
Suzanne (Thérèse Liotard) and Pauline (Valérie Mairesse) meet in the 1960s and become friends after the latter helps the former obtain an abortion. They fall out of touch but meet again a decade later, with Pauline (known now as “Pomme”) a dedicated performance artist, and Suzanne a family planning advocate. Performing songs about abortion rights with her all-female political protest troupe, Pomme mirrors Varda’s deep commitment to women’s rights—the director signed the Manifesto of the 343, a political movement of 343 women announcing that they had an abortion, despite it being illegal in France. Come out and celebrate a women who made film and the world a better place.
2K DCP Restoration courtesy Janus Films and supervised by Agnès Varda.
Featuring a burlesque performance by Loretta Jean.