Jane B par Agnes V. is an extraordinary film. Birkin had seen Varda’s Vagabond and was interested in making a film with its director. Varda’s response was to make a film about the actress herself. To French audiences, Jane Birkin is much more than an actress. She is a media celebrity. She seems to have made her life into a performance, whether as a sixties icon or an eighties personality, and the film explores the constant, reversible oscillation of public and private contained in Birkin’s public persona.