Sans toit ni loi (1985)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Agnès Varda

Writer:

Agnès Varda (writer)

Release Date:

16 May 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In winter in the south of France, a young woman is found frozen in a ditch. She's ill kempt, a vagabond...

Plot Keywords:

Tree | Flashback | Ditch | Agronomist | Old Woman

Awards:

8 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Vagabond (USA)
Without Roof or Rule (literal English title)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

France | UK

Language:

Arabic | French | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | West Germany:12

Company:

Channel Four Films

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: 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.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

References Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962)

Soundtrack:

Oh Baby

Excellent film that takes life seriously

This film will get you thinking about how we choose to live our lives and the allure of freedom and "do your own thing." Sadrine Bonnaire, about 18 when film was made, is utterly fantastic as a rather vapid, not-too bright, live-for-the-moment homeless drifter who is uncomfortable with people and encounters mostly pain and suffering when she hitchhikes and wanders across a very cold region of France in the winter. She didn't like her job and thinks the free life will be her salvation (if she thinks that deeply). The people she encounters and the events in the film are memorable. The nature of her journey and the changes she undergoes as she moves along and hangs out wherever she can (no spoilers here) are spot on and very thought provoking. This is a haunting (I know this is a cliché in film commentary) film that features a performance, a lifestyle and a story you will never forget. Also see Wild Strawberries (very accessible early Bergman film), another journey film,which has a different story to tell. Also, W.S. is one of top ten films of all time and one of the pinnacles of art in the twentieth century. Vagabond is a good film, but not a top work of art.