French film "Jacquot De Nantes" is Agnès Varda's personal cinematographic tribute to her husband late director Jacques Demy who has made some of the most marvelous musical films in the history of French cinema. No true cinéphile can claim to truly know French cinema unless he/she has seen Jacques Demy's films namely "Les Parapluies De Cherbourg", "Les Demoiselles De Rochefort", "La Baie Des Anges" etc. This film explores the role of childhood in a film director's life. Agnès Varda shows how an ordinary boy without any connection to the world of cinema from a humble milieu with a mechanic father and a hairdresser mother achieves greater heights to become a reputed film director. In many ways, the incidents from Jacques Demy's childhood are similar to those of other leading directors of French cinema who also had experienced troubled childhood experiences namely François Truffaut and Maurice Pialat. Louis Malle is the only exception to this rule as he belonged to one of the most wealthiest families in France. The film is constructed in such a manner that one finds the echo of the events experienced by Jacques Demy in his own films. This effect is carried out through scenes wherein an arrow separates childhood memory scenes from actual scenes which were all an integral part of Jacques Demy's own films. The very fact that Jacques Demy makes his appearance at regular intervals in this film helps us to place scenes from his films in their proper perspective. Jacquot De Nantes is true to life as it depicts minor as well as major incidents from Jacques Demy's life without being maudlin. For cinéphiles the sheer joy of Jacques Demy going crazy about classics of French cinema namely "Les Enfants Du Paradis" is a veritable visual treat. Lastly, had it not been for Agnès Varda and her brilliant film "Jacquot De Nantes" not many cinéphiles would have been able to learn that it was French director Christian Jacque who gave young Jacques Demy a chance to enter the world of cinema when he discovered the young boy's talent during one of his visits to Nantes-a city where Jacques Demy was born.
