# Vagabond (1985 film)

Vagabond (French: Sans toit ni loi, "without roof or 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.

## Plot

The film begins with the contorted body of a young woman, Mona, lying in a frost-covered ditch, beneath two twin cypress trees, in the vineyards of a small village in the Gard region. The discovery is initially treated as a simple case, quickly dismissed by the local gendarmes. Yet, Mona had been known in the village.
Through flashbacks, we learn about her life on the fringes of society. Mona, once a secretary in Paris, had grown disillusioned with her life and chosen to wander the country instead, hitchhiking, sleeping in a tent, and doing odd jobs for survival. She survives with energy despite the hunger, thirst, cold, and lack of cigarettes and marijuana. Her journey leads her to meet other wanderers, a Tunisian vineyard worker, a family of goat farmers, a maid who envies her freedom, and a professor specializing in plane trees. Mona explains to one of her companions that she left her life in Paris behind, seeking freedom and a life without responsibility.
Mona’s living conditions worsen over time. After a stint in a squat in Nîmes, which is later destroyed in a fire, she returns to the countryside but remains in isolation. She falls into a ditch, unable to rise, as the cold overtakes her.

## 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.

## 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.

## 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 |
| César Awards | Best Director | Agnès Varda | Nominated |
| César Awards | Best Actress | Sandrine Bonnaire | Won |
| César Awards | 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 |
| Venice Film Festival | Volpi Cup for Best Actress | Sandrine Bonnaire | — |
| Venice Film Festival | FIPRESCI Prize | Agnès Varda | Won |
| Venice Film Festival | OCIC Award | Agnès Varda | Won |