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Vagabond

Play trailer Poster for Vagabond 1985 1h 45m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 25 Reviews 84% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Mona Bergeron (Sandrine Bonnaire) is dead, her frozen body found in a ditch in the French countryside. From this, the film flashes back to the weeks leading up to her death. Through these flashbacks, Mona gradually declines as she travels from place to place, taking odd jobs and staying with whomever will offer her a place to sleep. Mona is fiercely independent, craving freedom over comfort, but it is this desire to be free that will eventually lead to her demise.

Critics Reviews

View All (25) Critics Reviews
Julie Salamon Wall Street Journal Through this tough, memorable film, Ms. Varda reaches for our humanity with a force that very few movies can muster. Aug 10, 2022 Full Review David Jenkins Little White Lies This smooth, gliding action gives the camera the feel of a floating apparition observing a moment while in transit, attempting to draw in as much detail as possible but never stopping to stare. Jun 28, 2018 Full Review Peter Bradshaw Guardian An unmissable film from this great director. Rated: 5/5 Jun 27, 2018 Full Review Dennis Harvey 48 Hills A head-on portrait of a woman who vehemently refuses all such social conformities. Mar 22, 2024 Full Review Marya E. Gates Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack) Features a career-defining performance from Sandrine Bonnaire as Mona, a young woman who decides to live her life free from the trappings of modern society. Feb 13, 2024 Full Review Joe Muldoon Battle Royale With Cheese Vagabond is Varda at her finest. Jan 16, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (131) audience reviews
Audience Member simplesmente perfeito Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/28/24 Full Review Audience Member Kudos to Agnes Varda for always taking an interest in the underbelly of society, but watching a generally miserable, difficult, ungrateful and filthy person slowly and grimly plod through the hobo life during a cold French winter was a bit too excruciating for me. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/24 Full Review Audience Member It was produced in 1985, but it is familiar and looks like today’s California and San Francisco. Today’s San Francisco has more homeless and more deaths, thanks to Democratic Party politicians’ weird policies. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 11/09/23 Full Review Nicholas L So beautiful and tragic. An irreplaceable film. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/27/23 Full Review David F I think the first time I ever watched this film was when it was shown on the CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a channel available in Michigan, probably some time in the 1990s. They showed foreign and independent films on Friday nights, at midnight, I think, introduced by a song that I can remember sounded like Michael Sembello's Maniac (maybe it was that song). Anyways, it was one of the films that opened my eyes to the wonders of foreign films, the wonders of French film, and the wonders of views that weren't the views of Hollywood. Here you have a film where the main character is a woman, and not just a member fo the second sex, but one who is a poor misfit who doesn't fit in anywhere, doesn't have a home, and isn't very nice at all. So basically, it's a revolutionary film. The vagabond, Mona, hitchhikes around a wine region, falls in with a bunch of different people, none for very long, takes some odd jobs, smokes pot and listens to music. Does she have a philosophy of life? I guess maybe, but she's more of a mood or an attitude, and one that I love. She mentions working a steady job in the past but she hated it and now she has embraced something else - an unconventional life, total freedom, total irresponsibility - something like that. The format of the film is excellent. It comes across as a documentary - the first scene is Mona dead in a ditch, this is what her life and her choices have lead her to. From there we get a pseudo-documentary take on her final weeks. People who crossed paths with her are interviewed. Some of them admired her, some looked down on her, some did not like the way she smelled. It's like Citizen Kane for a homeless woman. This movie is a masterpiece. There is so much to think about after watching it. It gives you intellectual stimulation but no firm answers. It's a beautiful heartbreaking film that just says, some of us want something different and that need to be justified or explained, it may be presented, and that presentation shall be a work of art. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/13/23 Full Review dave s Agnes Varda's Vagabond opens with the discovery of a young girl's body being found in a ditch, frozen to death in the French countryside. The remainder of the film is told in flashbacks as it follows Mona (Sandrine Bonnaire) over her final days, interspersed with comments from those who encountered her on her travels prior to her death. What makes the film so intriguing is the fact that Varda offers little in the way of background information on her tragic protagonist – is Mona escaping from her past or is she simply seeking absolute freedom, regardless of the cost? Bonnaire's performance and Varda's direction (plenty of sparse, colorless landscapes and slow tracking shots) make Vagabond tough but compelling viewing. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Vagabond

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Mona Bergeron (Sandrine Bonnaire) is dead, her frozen body found in a ditch in the French countryside. From this, the film flashes back to the weeks leading up to her death. Through these flashbacks, Mona gradually declines as she travels from place to place, taking odd jobs and staying with whomever will offer her a place to sleep. Mona is fiercely independent, craving freedom over comfort, but it is this desire to be free that will eventually lead to her demise.
Director
Agnès Varda
Producer
Oury Milshtein
Screenwriter
Agnès Varda
Production Co
Films A2, Ciné Tamaris
Genre
Drama
Original Language
French (France)
Release Date (DVD)
May 11, 2004
Runtime
1h 45m