Vagabond (1985)
"Sans toit ni loi" (original title)

In winter in the south of France, a young woman is found frozen in a ditch. She's unkempt, a vagabond. Through flashbacks and brief interviews, we trace her final weeks as she camps alone ... See full summary »

Director:

Agnès Varda

Writer:

Agnès Varda

Stars:

Sandrine Bonnaire, Setti Ramdane, Macha Méril

10 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sandrine Bonnaire	...	Mona Bergeron, sans toit ni loi
Setti Ramdane	...	le marocaine qui la trouve
Francis Balchère	...	un gendarme
Jean-Louis Perletti	...	un autre
Urbain Causse	...	un paysan interrogé
Christophe Alcazar	...	un autre, brûleyrr de fossé
Dominique Durand	...	le premier motard
Joël Fosse	...	l'autre, Paulo, amant de Yolande
Patrick Schmit	...	le camionneur
Daniel Bos	...	Le démolisseur
Katy Champaud	...	le jeune fille à la pompe
Raymond Roulle	...	le vieux aux allumettes
Henri Fridlani	...	le fossoyeur
Patrick Sokol	...	le jaune homme au sandwich
Pierre Imbert	...	le garagiste

Storyline

In winter in the south of France, a young woman is found frozen in a ditch. She's unkempt, a vagabond. Through flashbacks and brief interviews, we trace her final weeks as she camps alone or falls in with various men and women, many of whom project their needs onto her or try to give her life direction. She squats in an old house smoking hash with a man, falls for a Tunisian laborer and works beside him pruning grape vines, stays with a couple shepherding goats, meets an agronomist trying to save plane trees, gets tipsy with an old woman, and has an offer to appear in porn films.

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Plot Keywords:

ditch | flashback | tree | alone | vagabond | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

Arabic French English

Release Date:

16 May 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Vagabond

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ciné Tamaris, Films A2, Ministère de la Culture

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

In the opening segment, Mona (Sandrine Bonnaire) is lying in a ditch in the vineyard. The character Mona is supposed to be dead, but if you look at the actress's neck you can clearly see a neck artery visibly pulsing.

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Quotes

la platonologne Mme Landier: Why did you drop out?
Mona Bergeron, sans toit ni loi: Champagne on the road's better!

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Connections

References Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)

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Soundtracks

"Variations sur la Vita"
Composed and directed by Joanna Bruzdowicz

User Reviews

A realistic view of French society depicted by a leading figure of French new wave cinema

The greatest achievement of French cinema is that it has never felt embarrassed in portraying grim realities which have a direct bearing on the identity of French society.This is one of the reasons why there is a marked distinction in France between serious films and films as entertainment.This is something particularly true in case of certain French directors especially women filmmakers such as Marguerite Duras and Agnès Varda.It is through her bold film "Sans Toit Ni Loi" that Agnès Varda allows an astute film admirer to measure the vitality of French cinema.The making and universal appeal of "Vagabond/Sans Toit Ni Loi" is the biggest evidence of the fact that the creators of French cinema especially its talented filmmakers are open to direct films which show a distinct image of France.Vagabond is an absolutely honest film as everything depicted in it can be experienced in France where drifters and immigrants are given considerable amount of screen space. Sandrine Bonnaire's acting performance as a lonely drifter has no parallels in world cinema.She gives a whole new meaning to the representation of marginal characters in French cinema.