Boxes

Jane Birkin’s beautiful and touching film takes us on a deeply personal journey, confirming not only her intelligence and depth of feeling, but her innate talent as a writer, director and actress.
Anna, an English woman in her fifties, has moved into a new house on the coast of Brittany. Surrounded by boxes, all containing fragments of her life, she bravely confronts the memories they evoke from the past and the thoughts and feelings they provoke in the present. Her three daughters and their three fathers, her own parents and various other people, some living, some deceased, appear vividly in a dream-like sequence of the memories that constitute her life today – who she has become, the influence she has had and the precious hope for what the future may bring.
With an incredible cast of both veteran actors, including Michel Piccoli and John Hurt, as well as emerging talent, such as Birkin’s daughter Lou Doillon, the film contains first class performances, which compliment the style of filming. In an almost surreal way, the inherent emotion is conveyed with a poetic fluency that perfectly captures the essence of Jane Birkin. This is truly an outstanding directorial debut from a woman who has captured the heart of both anglophiles and francophiles alike for many years.