{"id":4648,"date":"2007-11-12T12:05:16","date_gmt":"2007-11-12T19:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4648"},"modified":"2020-12-25T13:00:52","modified_gmt":"2020-12-25T20:00:52","slug":"vagabond-1985","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4648","title":{"rendered":"Vagabond (1985)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Female drifters, all alike: just loafers and men-chasers.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/Vagabond-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/Vagabond-Poster-198x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-23393\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/Vagabond-Poster-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/Vagabond-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/Vagabond-Poster.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA young, electively homeless woman (Sandrine Bonnaire) drifts across the French countryside, trying to survive the harsh winter.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Character Studies<\/li>\n<li>Flashback Films<\/li>\n<li>French Films<\/li>\n<li>Homeless<\/li>\n<li>Road Trip<\/li>\n<li>Survival<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nBelgian director Agnes Varda has long been interested in using cinema as a means of delving deeply into women&#8217;s psyches and personal choices. In her experimental New Wave debut &#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4606\"><em>Cleo From 5 to 7<\/em><\/a> (1961) &#8212; she shadowed a young singer anxiously awaiting the results of a medical test; sixteen years later, she made <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4601\"><em>One Sings, the Other Doesn&#8217;t<\/em><\/a>, a sincere yet didactic homage to feminist solidarity. In <em>Vagabond<\/em>, she utilizes a more strategically neo-realist approach to storytelling, while maintaining critical elements of both these earlier films: like Cleo, <em>Vagabond<\/em>&#8216;s Mona is a self-absorbed, not-entirely-likable &#8220;drifter&#8221; who wanders from place to place; and, like lifelong friends Pomme and Suzanne in <em>One Sings, the Other Doesn&#8217;t<\/em>, Mona must struggle to survive in a male-dominated world.  <\/p>\n<p>Of these three films, <em>Vagabond<\/em> is ultimately the most successful and satisfying, thanks primarily to Sandrine Bonnaire&#8217;s compelling, brave performance. As in her screen debut (playing teenage Suzanne in 1983&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1237\"><em>A Nos Amours<\/em><\/a>), Bonnaire invests her character here with an air of studied yet vulnerable insouciance; in some ways, Mona is simply a radical, tragic extension of Suzanne. To her credit, however, Varda doesn&#8217;t try to frame Mona as overly sympathetic &#8212; she&#8217;s bitchy and conniving when she needs to be, doing whatever it takes to make it from day to day with a minimum of effort; she lacks overt initiative, and often fails to take advantage of the kindnesses offered to her. <\/p>\n<p>Although we never learn exactly why Mona is rebelling against even the most minimal strictures of society, it&#8217;s clear from the opening shot of her corpse that such an approach is doomed. Throughout the film, she&#8217;s bedraggled, smelly, and occasionally feral &#8212; yet always fascinating and\/or frustrating to those around her: just as Varda herself somewhat romantically posits Mona as &#8220;emerging from the ocean&#8221;, each character in the film is given a chance to comment on how <em>they<\/em> view Mona&#8217;s situation, thus making this more of a multi-faceted &#8220;reaction&#8221; story than simply a study in character. <em>Vagabond<\/em> is an undeniably harsh experience to sit through, but remains memorable long after the camera has circled back once again onto Mona&#8217;s frozen, lifeless body in a ditch. <\/p>\n<p><strong>P.S. <\/strong><em>Vagabond<\/em> also provides hints of Varda&#8217;s future interest in society&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0247380\/\">&#8220;gleaners&#8221;<\/a> &#8212; outsiders who scavenge off the leavings of others; perhaps more so than any other filmmaker, Varda&#8217;s sporadic corpus of work truly reflects her evolving viewpoints over the decades.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sandrine Bonnaire as Mona<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/vagabond-bonnaire.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/vagabond-bonnaire.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4645\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Mona &#8212; in one of the movie&#8217;s rare concessions to levity &#8212; sharing a &#8220;nip of brandy&#8221; with an elderly woman (Marthe Jarnais)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/vagabond-laughing.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/vagabond-laughing.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4646\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>A bleak portrait of selective solitude<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/vagabond-solitude.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/vagabond-solitude.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4647\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, for Bonnaire&#8217;s uncompromising performance. Listed as a film with Historical Importance, a Cult Movie, and a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary&#8217;s book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Noteworthy Performance(s)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0089960\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1986\/05\/16\/movies\/screen-agnes-varda-s-vagabond.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/vagabond-1986\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Female drifters, all alike: just loafers and men-chasers.&#8221; Synopsis: A young, electively homeless woman (Sandrine Bonnaire) drifts across the French countryside, trying to survive the harsh winter. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Character Studies Flashback Films French Films Homeless Road Trip Survival Review: Belgian director Agnes Varda has long been interested in using cinema as a means of delving deeply into women&#8217;s psyches and personal choices. In her experimental New Wave debut &#8212; Cleo From 5 to 7 (1961) &#8212;&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4648\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4648"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59446,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4648\/revisions\/59446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}