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Vagabond
Vagabond
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Agnès Varda
Written by	Agnès Varda
Produced by	Oury Milshtein
Starring	Sandrine Bonnaire; Macha Méril; Yolande Moreau
Cinematography	Patrick Blossier
Edited by	Patricia Mazuy; Agnès Varda
Music by	Joanna Bruzdowicz; Fred Chichin
Distributed by	MK2 Diffusion
Release dates	September 1985 (Venice); 4 December 1985;
Running time	105 minutes
Country	France
Language	French
Box office	$8.1 million

Vagabond (French: Sans toit ni loi, "with neither shelter nor law") is a 1985 French drama film directed by Agnès Varda, featuring Sandrine Bonnaire. It tells through flashbacks the story of a vagabond who wanders through the Languedoc-Roussillon wine country one winter, beginning after her body is found. The film premiered at the 42nd Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion. Vagabond was nominated for four César Awards, with Bonnaire winning Best Actress. The film was the 36th highest-grossing film of the year with a total of 1,080,143 admissions in France.^[2]

Plot

The film begins with the contorted body of a young woman lying in a ditch, covered in frost. From this image, an unseen interviewer (Varda) puts the camera on the last men to see her and the one who found her. The action then flashes back to the woman, Mona, when she was still alive and intentionally living on the fringe of society by hitchhiking, sleeping in a tent and doing brief odd jobs for money. Along her journey she takes up with other vagabonds as well as a Tunisian vineyard worker, a family of goat farmers, an agronomy professor, and a maid who envies what she perceives to be Mona's beautiful and passionate lifestyle. Mona explains to one of her temporary companions that at one time she was a secretary in Paris but became unsettled with the way she was living, choosing instead to wander the country, free from any responsibility. Her living conditions worsens until she finally falls where we first encounter her—in a ditch, frozen to death.

Cast

Sandrine Bonnaire as Mona Bergeron
Macha Méril as Mme Landier
Yolande Moreau as Yolande
Stéphane Freiss as Jean-Pierre
Setti Ramdane as Assoun
Francis Balchère as Police
Jean-Louis Perletti as Police
Urbain Causse as Farmer
Christophe Alcazar as Farmer
Joël Fosse as Paulo
Patrick Schmit as Truck Driver
Daniel Bos as Demolition Worker
Katy Champaud as Girl at the Pump
Raymond Roulle as Old Man with Matches
Henri Fridlani as The Gravedigger
Patrick Sokol as Young Man with Sandwich
Pierre Imbert as Mechanic

Critical reception

The film was acclaimed by critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 100% of 23 critics gave the film a positive review, for an average rating of 8.8/10.^[3]

Style

Vagabond combines straightforward narrative scenes, in which we see Mona living her life, with pseudo-documentary sequences in which people who knew Mona turn to the camera and say what they remember about her. Significant events are sometimes left unshown, so that the viewer must piece information together to gain a full picture.

It was filmed in the departments of Gard, Hérault and Bouches-du-Rhône.^[4]

The title

The original French title, Sans toit ni loi (With neither Shelter nor Law), is a play on a common French idiom, "sans foi ni loi", meaning "with neither faith nor law". It also puns on sans toi ("without you").

Awards and nominations

Award	Category	Name	Outcome
César Awards	Best Film	Agnès Varda	Nominated
	Best Director	Agnès Varda	Nominated
	Best Actress	Sandrine Bonnaire	Won
	Best Supporting Actress	Macha Méril	Nominated
French Syndicate of Cinema Critics	Best Film	Agnès Varda	Won
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards	Best Foreign Film	Agnès Varda	Won
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards	Best Actress	Sandrine Bonnaire	Won
National Society of Film Critics Awards	Best Actress	Sandrine Bonnaire	Nominated
New York Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Foreign Language Film	Agnès Varda	Nominated
Sant Jordi Awards	Best Foreign Actress	Sandrine Bonnaire	Won
Venice Film Festival	Golden Lion	Agnès Varda	Won
	Volpi Cup for Best Actress	Sandrine Bonnaire	—^[a]
	FIPRESCI Prize	Agnès Varda	Won
	OCIC Award	Agnès Varda	Won

Notes

^ This award was not assigned. The jury deemed the best performances to be Sandrine Bonnaire (Sans toit ni loi) and Jane Birkin (Dust), but decided against awarding the prize as both films won major awards. They also gave a special mention to three other actresses for their performances.^[5]