Vagabond (Classic + 40th Anniversary Screening)

Sandrine Bonnaire won great acclaim and awards for her portrayal of the defiant young drifter Mona, whose story Agnès Varda pieces together through flashbacks told by those who had encountered her. Played by a largely nonprofessional cast, this produces a splintered portrait of an enigmatic woman. With its sparse, poetic imagery, Vagabond is a stunner. An unmissable film from this great director which represents the epitome of Varda’s deft ability to fuse naturalism with a photographer’s eye for framing and colour.

100% – Rotten Tomatoes

7.6 / 10 – IMDB

“beyond Vagabond’s quiet defiance, the film is so startling because its protagonist is a woman. We’ve seen male drifters and loners throughout film history. A man alone has a reason, and his isolation is therefore noble.”

“A male drifter is doing penance for something for which he was found innocent but for which he cannot forgive himself. A woman alone is crazy.”

“Mona doesn’t care if you watch or not. I am not here for you to figure out, I imagine her saying—because like me, she says so very little. Try to judge me, she says, flipping off the camera. Try to pin me down, she says to her audience. I terrify you, don’t I?”