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      The Gleaners and I

      Released Jul 9, 2000 1h 22m Documentary List
      93% 45 Reviews Tomatometer 86% 1,000+ Ratings Audience Score An 1867 painting by Jean-Francois Millet inspired septuagenarian documentarian Agnes Varda to cross the French countryside to videotape people who scavenge. Taking everything from surplus in the fields, to rubbish in trashcans, to oysters washed up after a storm, the "gleaners" range from those sadly in need to those hoping to recreate the community activity of centuries past, and still others who use whatever they find to cobble together a rough art. Highlighted by Varda's amusing narration. Read More Read Less
      The Gleaners and I

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      Critics Consensus

      The Gleaners and I takes a compassionate look at a rarely considered subculture whose individualism resonates powerfully with director Agnès Varda's humanistic approach.

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      Critics Reviews

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      Marjorie Baumgarten Austin Chronicle The Gleaners and I shows Varda in full flower, ever reaping what she has sown. Mar 10, 2003 Full Review Peter Rainer New York Magazine/Vulture [A] lyrically ramshackle essay about people, including Varda herself, who don't fit into society's cubbyholes. Sep 26, 2002 Full Review Chris Vognar Dallas Morning News The Gleaners and I is a film well worth finding. Rated: A- Feb 21, 2002 Full Review Susan Sontag Artforum A thrilling subject, and Varda’s best film since Vagabond. May 2, 2024 Full Review Dennis Harvey 48 Hills A kind of arthouse personality cult, even as the international arthouse world itself was dying off... Mar 22, 2024 Full Review A.S. Hamrah The Baffler Agnès Varda's essay film about people who gather and pick vegetables and fruit after harvests are over in the country, and after farmers markets have packed up in the city, is serious, but light and airy. Sep 16, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

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      S R 1001 movies to see before you die. Left leaning documentary that won me over for its uniqueness. It was on CRI. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Such a simple low-budget, documentary, and yet I was glued to it. Agnes Varda has such a goofy, natural way about her, and she has a genuine interest and empathy for her subjects. And it’s so interesting how the gleaners (foragers?) have a history and a recognized place in French society - people just trying to get by. living a sustainable life before is was fashionable. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 07/06/22 Full Review jordan m Agnes picked a good subject to make a documentary out of, to be sure. I may have inadvertently prevented myself from enjoying it by not spending a lot of time watching lesser documentaries to compare this one positively to. I've really only seen a few, most notably When We Were Kings (about Muhammad Ali), and this one just does not compare to that. I liked that she had a unique style and that she inserted herself into the scene, but the parts where she highlights how old she's getting and how much she likes her new camera made the whole thing feel unfocused. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review William L Agnès, I can appreciate that you're trying to be thought-provoking, but that leaky ceiling and the large spot of mold that has formed isn't just an allegory. It's a structural problem and health hazard that needs to be addressed. Still thematically relevant (and likely will remain so until humanity eats itself out of a planet), The Gleaners and I is both a glimpse at the unsustainability of current economics based on endless growth, and the subculture that has sprung up from the quantity produced that falls between the cracks in the quotas. Mercifully, Varda does not present every individual that she catches sourcing potatoes from a field as some sort of perfectly enlightened philosopher demonstrating practical sustainabilty, but instead as a mixture of personalities - those gathering on an ethical basis, and those forced to do so out of a sense of practicality. Introspective if a bit self-important, the film documents Varda not only taking on a sincere social issue but drawing realistic parallels to her own story, the cracks in the TV screens mimicking the cracks in her skin as she wonders about the role of utility and purpose. Interesting to contrast this to the Grapes of Wrath; on the one hand, the French legal system arguing on moral grounds that gleaners cannot be denied the right to take what has been left to waste, while on the other America recruits policeman to ensure that not one orange is taken from full orchards to feed starving masses in order to ensure that the price of produce stays high. (3.5/5) Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/02/22 Full Review william k A remarkable documentary is fully realized in what one may call the Varda touch: an otherwise unnoticed aspect of everyday human life gets a full and very personal inspection and reveals so much more about those depicted, Varda herself and humanity. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Classic Agnes Varda, the movie has the director looking at the gleaners and the gleaned; the pickers and the picked; the bin rummagers and what they rummage for. The results are beautiful (like all Varda works), fascinating, and something like cinematic journalism. So it's just what a good doc should be. Among all the people who do this out of basic necessity in rural areas, those who do it for collecting or to reuse materials, to those picking through the refuse of the city, Varda speaks with your typical person to the degreed. Why are these people in this position? Just how much of this is people just trying to cut down waste or take some practical approach and how much of it is people just trying to survive? Both/All answers will say something about France and its people. Good stuff, it is. 3.4 stars Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis An 1867 painting by Jean-Francois Millet inspired septuagenarian documentarian Agnes Varda to cross the French countryside to videotape people who scavenge. Taking everything from surplus in the fields, to rubbish in trashcans, to oysters washed up after a storm, the "gleaners" range from those sadly in need to those hoping to recreate the community activity of centuries past, and still others who use whatever they find to cobble together a rough art. Highlighted by Varda's amusing narration.
      Director
      Agnès Varda
      Screenwriter
      Agnès Varda
      Genre
      Documentary
      Original Language
      French (France)
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Jul 9, 2000, Original
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Jan 11, 2017
      Runtime
      1h 22m