One Sings, the Other Doesn't

One Sings, the Other Doesn't is a 1977 french film written and directed by Agnès Varda that focuses on the lives of two women over 14 years against the backdrop of the Women's Movement in 1970s France. I watched it on HBO Max.

Agnes Varda (May 30, 1928 – March 29, 2019) died from cancer at the age of 90. According to Wikipedia: Her pioneering work was central to the development of the widely influential French New Wave film movement of the 1950s and 1960s. She was the first female director to be feted with an honorary Oscar. In 2019, the BBC polled 368 film experts from 84 countries to name the 100 best films by women directors. Varda was the most-named director, with six different films on the list. Varda's work is often considered feminist because of her use of female protagonists and her creation of a female cinematic voice. In 1971, Varda was one of the 343 women who signed the Manifesto of the 343 admitting they had had an abortion despite it being illegal in France at the time and asking that abortion be made legal.

trailer:

Slant Magazine says,

Reflecting on 15 years of second-wave feminism, One Sings, the Other Doesn’t is a poetic homage to the strength of women as they fight a protracted battle for liberation—one that’s made all the more relevant given the new generation of feminist activism that’s confronting a fresh wave of assaults on women’s rights.

Criterion says, "The film embraces maternity while insisting that women must have the right to decide when or if to bear children" and

Not only did Varda make her subject the most crucial and vexed issue of the feminist movement, at that time as it is today—a woman’s right to control her body, specifically her reproductive system—she also fashioned a narrative that is as rife with contradictions and reversals as freedom struggles always are.

Roger Ebert calls it "one of the most appealing films by a French director whose best work has always found a balance between the heart and the mind" and says,

Varda works close to the human grain; she insists whenever possible on making documentaries between each of her feature films, so she can stay in touch with reality and not fall for the stylistic excesses of the big fiction films.

Spirituality and Practice calls it "a valentine to female friendship and the worldwide family of women."