This is the most unlikely duo seen on a screen for a long time. She is a small 88-year-old babe with two-tone hair, Queen of the New Wave and a mythical author of French cinema, director of Cléo masterpieces from 5 to 7, Le bonheur and Les plages d'Agnès. He, a 34-year-old great scallop hidden behind his dark glasses, a glorious street-artist, displaying his extra-large photos all over the world, from the art galleries to the broken streets of Rio de Janeiro.

It was my daughter, Rosalie, who organized our meeting.

Friends in life, Agnès Varda and JR have teamed up to co-direct a film, Visages, Villages, a poetic, funny and luminous road-movie, selected for a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival. A work to seal the beautiful artistic fellowship of two personalities who united despite the differences of imagination. "It was my daughter, Rosalie, who organized our meeting. But I already knew JR's work, especially his installation at the Pantheon in Paris, explains Agnes Varda. I love those great portraits that he sticks to the walls. He goes to look for anonymous, invisible faces, people that fiction rejects, and he gives them their dignity. I have always tried to do the same thing as a director. "

Fans of the documentaries and the first black and white films of Agnès Varda, JR recognized the "spirit of freedom" that the filmmaker incarnates. "She's passionate about her energy," he says. She always has an idea in mind, a crazy bet to take. "

All that counts is the future, what happens, those stories that still have to be filmed.

France in a van

For nearly four months, from July to October 2016, this infernal tandem has launched a van on the roads of France to stage their common fi lm. They met hundreds of anonymous workers, peasants, workers or dismantled artists, took their photographs and collected their testimonies, drawing up a libertarian and deeply empathic portrait of a marginalized France. They are also ironed by all the stations of the life of Agnes Varda, the places where she has stayed, loved and worked, giving this Faces, villages disturbing airs of retrospective film, even if the director rejects the idea of ​​the the balance sheet.

"I do not think at the end. All that counts is the future, what happens, these stories that still have to be filmed, "she launches, laughing.

Faces, villages of Agnes Varda and JR, released June 28, 2017.