These caryatids, which have been part of the architecture since the 1820s but have been rendered invisible by habit, despite their nudity, are revealed by the delicate sound of the piano. From the opening, the filmmaker throws a naked man into the street, immediately raising the question of the gaze. Everything is coherent and different here. We are neither tourists nor residents. But onlookers. As a curious historian, Varda is learned, but never pedantic, and intersperses the race with playful, mischievous and political reflections, to make us see what no one sees. Her familiar voice and her camera spin through the city of Paris, looking for the origins of these stone carriers. His alert eye delights in the finds gleaned from the streets. And our view of Paris will be forever changed by having seen these sublime women-sculptures at crane height, touching the tops of the marbles. In this homage to Paris, Varda raises the question of the female body in history and of the image of women in the collective memory.

Jennifer Alleyn
Filmmaker

Presented in collaboration with