''Daguerréotypes'' is a 1976 French

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed by

Agnès Varda Agnès Varda (; born Arlette Varda; 30 May 1928 – 29 March 2019) was a Belgian-born French film director, screenwriter and photographer. Varda's work employed location shooting in an era when the limitations of sound technology made it easier ...

. The film consists of vignettes capturing life on Rue Daguerre, a street in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

where Varda lived.

Production

At the time of filming, Varda was caring for her two-year-old son and could not travel far from her home. Consequently, the entire film was shot within a radius of her residence, the maximum length of the electric cables powering her equipment.

Synopsis

The film profiles various shopkeepers and residents of Rue Daguerre, many of whom came from outside Paris or even outside France. Each subject is asked a series of three recurring questions: "Where did you come from?", "When did you get here?", and "Why did you come?"

Title and themes

The title ''Daguerréotypes'' is a pun referring both to the street Rue Daguerre—named after

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

, the inventor of the

daguerreotype Daguerreotype was the first publicly available photography, photographic process, widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process. Invented by Louis Daguerre and introduced worldwid ...

photographic process—and to the idea of "types". In a voiceover, Varda describes the subjects as her "types", referencing typologies as both a photographic and social concept. The film critiques these systems of classification, and several scenes feature subjects posed in the style of 19th-century portrait photography.

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