Vagabond (1985)

Director: Agnès Varda

Stars: Sandrine Bonnaire, Macha Méril, Stéphane Freiss
Runtime: 105 minutes

Synopsis: A young woman's body is found frozen in a ditch. Through flashbacks and interviews, we see the events that led to her inevitable death.

Performances: 8/10
Screenplay: 7/10
Editing: 8/10
Cinematography: 8/10
Score/Soundtrack: 7/10

Verdict: The late Agnès Varda is a pioneer of the French New Wave movement that started in the 1950s. And despite thoroughly enjoying "Cléo From 5 to 7", I'm ashamed to say that I'm not as familiar as I want to be with the Belgian-born director's undoubtedly rich filmography. As a way to finally start righting that wrong, I put on "Sans toi ni loi", otherwise known as "Vagabond", which was met back in 1985 with universal acclaim, gathering a perfect score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The movie stars an excellent Sandrine Bonnaire as Mona, a young woman found dead in a ditch during the opening moments of the film. We then proceed to witness various interviews with people she interacted with during the last couple of weeks of her life complemented with flashbacks of Mona's tough life on the streets. She was living her life one day at a time, without a home, a car, or even any money. She used to hitchhike to get around, work small jobs to earn enough money to buy herself some food, and the closest thing to a bed that she owned was a tent.

At first, I wasn't entirely sure about Varda's pseudo-documentary style of showcasing the events that led to Mona's demise. But after a night of reflection, it grew on me. The point of the movie is not to serve as a character study on Mona, which by the end remains a pretty mysterious lead, but rather to show us what her entourage thought of her and her way of living.

Overall, "Vagabond" is a little gem of a movie that I'm only learning to appreciate more and more with time. It's a solid, beautifully shot feature by Varda that I can see myself appreciating further on second viewing.

FINAL GRADE: 7/10