‘Jacquot de Nantes’

Near the beginning of this 1993 release, which is French director Agnes Varda’s enchanting tribute to her late husband, director Jacques Demy, Varda tells us that Demy’s “childhood was his treasure and the source of inspiration for his films.” She aptly describes her film as an evocation--a biography of Demy’s early years in Nantes in western France on the Loire River. It is seamlessly punctuated with clips from his films and with loving glimpses of the gaunt but still gallant Demy, who occasionally comments on his life and work. The heart of the matter is how, as a boy, Demy, who was born in 1931 and died of leukemia in 1990, evolved into a self-taught filmmaker by the time he had reached his teens. Philippe Maron (pictured, with Brigitte De Villepoix as Demy’s mother), Edouard Joubeaud and Laurent Monnier play Jacquot at different ages (Cinemax Friday at 7 a.m.).