Acropolis Cinema
Bringing experimental, international, and undistributed films to Los Angeles
One Sings, the Other Doesn't (Dir. Agnès Varda, 1977)
Date: July 24, 2018
Time: 8:00pm
Location: Downtown Independent
Address: 251 S. Main St, Los Angeles, CA. 90012
Los Angeles premiere of new digital restoration!
Co-presented by La Collectionneuse!
Agnés Varda’s enchanting ode to female friendship and liberation is part blissed-out bohemian musical, part revolutionary cri de cœur. Spanning more than a decade, it traces the ups and downs—abortion, heartbreak, marriage, motherhood—of two friends, Pauline (Mairesse) and Suzanne (Liotard). Even as their lives radically diverge, they remain steadfastly devoted to one another while finding ways to empower other women: one as a traveling feminist folk singer, the other as a reproductive rights activist. Set against France’s pro-choice struggle—of which Varda herself was on the frontlines—this tender and intimate epic celebrates the power of women to lift one another up. (Janus Films)
A gift of hope for future generations of women... so steeped in dualities that you can practically see a dividing line in every shot.
Michael Koresky, Reverse Shot
[A] pop paean to sisterhood... As a fairy-tale French musical, the film can stand beside those of Ms. Varda’s life partner, Jacques Demy, and feels even more personal.
J. Hoberman, Thew New Tork Times
One of the most appealing films by a French director whose best work has always found a balance between the heart and the mind.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times
Offers itself as a militant refusal of glumness. It is intensely optimistic, even utopian—a word that the film periodically uses unashamedly, indeed with pride.
Jonathan Romney, Film Comment
[One Sings'] audacious irreverence and playful, musical form feel as fresh as ever, as does its call to women to embrace unfettered self-expression by any unconventional means.
Carmen Gray, Village Voice
