One Sings, the Other Doesn't

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.

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