Inner murals

French locals inspire giant portraits in Oscar-nominated ‘Faces Places’

A common mission to honor the common man brings two iconic artists together in “Faces Places,” an author-intrusive documentary that plays like the most benevolent reality TV show ever conceived.

Filmmaker Agnès Varda is an 89-year-old legend of French cinema. 33-year-old JR is a self-described “photograffeur” who pastes massive pictures on public walls and landmarks. His initials are a pseudonym; his real identity remains unknown. She’s short in stature with a frosted velvet bowl-cut coif, and he’s tall and lanky, hiding behind ever-present sunglasses. These co-directors make for quite a pair.

Like oddball wonder twins, this duo combines their artistic superpowers to activate a fascinating project: Traveling across France to small towns, they conjure massive make-shift frescos of strangers they meet, informed by time visiting with them. Employing Varda’s incisive expertise and JR’s flair for transforming a building into a canvas, they paint portraits both literal and personal.

Varda and JR are gypsy spirits following no plan or itinerary. They engage the faces and places as they come to them, inviting locals to their retrofitted shipping truck-turned-photobooth. JR takes pictures of people, instantly printing large-scale black-and-white posters of single or group portraits, then he finds a public space to plaster them on (a business, a residence, a train car, and so on). At times, he creatively marries multiple images together.

This process evolves in tandem with conversations between Varda, JR, and town residents. The photos are merely an entrée for getting to know people, to hear their stories. As certain individuals pique their fascination, a work of art forms on a billboard-scale landscape. When finished, these townsfolk are genuinely touched, seeing themselves in new, revelatory ways. Some are overwhelmed. The reactions are tender and beautiful.

Varda and JR have given these people unexpected gifts, ones that will last long past the time when rain washes the murals away. Such is the power when an average person becomes an artist’s muse.

“Faces Places” is also about Varda and JR’s unlikely partnership in which each eventually lets their guard down. Energized by shared experiences and philosophical differences, candid exchanges emerge as trust builds, especially for Varda; each new place stirs memories—many of which she’s documented (and we get to see).

Inevitably, death comes up, too, as they reflect on time and life and how quickly it all passes.

“Faces Places” captures all of these depths. It is a film of generous humanity.