The Gleaners & I (2000)
"Les glaneurs et la glaneuse" (original title)

An intimate, picaresque inquiry into French life as lived by the country's poor and its provident, as well as by the film's own director, Agnes Varda. The aesthetic, political and moral ... See full summary »

Director:

Agnès Varda

Writer:

Agnès Varda

Stars:

Bodan Litnanski, Agnès Varda, François Wertheimer

11 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Bodan Litnanski	...	Himself
Agnès Varda	...	Herself
François Wertheimer	...	Himself

Storyline

An intimate, picaresque inquiry into French life as lived by the country's poor and its provident, as well as by the film's own director, Agnes Varda. The aesthetic, political and moral point of departure for Varda are gleaners, those individuals who pick at already-reaped fields for the odd potato, the leftover turnip.

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Plot Keywords:

potato | french countryside | artist | fruit | caravan | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

7 July 2000 (France)

Also Known As:

The Gleaners & I

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$12,655 (USA) (9 March 2001)

Gross:

$149,834 (USA) (13 July 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ciné Tamaris

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Followed by The Gleaners and I: Two Years Later (2002)

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Soundtracks

"Apfelsextett"
Composed by Pierre Barbaud

User Reviews

The Gleaners and I

The Gleaners and I is odd in that it hardly feels like a proper film at all: it's shot on visibly cheap MiniDV, its editing is consistently unpolished, and it delights in crossing the line from personal to indulgent in excess. It's obvious that these are all deliberate choices; the question is, would we care if it didn't have the name Agnès Varda on it?

Ultimately, the film's amateurish style is somewhat deceptive: Varda demonstrates her talent for finding significance in the mundane, and strikes a number of compelling parallels in her examination of scavenger culture. The film does tend to coast on Varda's legendary new wave status at times, particularly as we linger on interviews and segments only tenuously related to the film's subject, but it's interesting as an example of a living legend embracing her medium's democratization: for all the good and bad it implies, she blends in seamlessly with the millions of talented people who own camcorders. -TK 10/21/10