Vagabond (Sans toit ni loi, "with neither shelter nor law") is a 1985 French drama film directed by Agnès Varda, featuring Sandrine Bonnaire. It tells the story of a young woman, a vagabond, who wanders through the Languedoc-Roussillon wine country one winter. 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.
The film begins with the contorted body of a young woman lying in a ditch, covered in frost. From this image, an unseen interviewer (Varda) puts the camera on the last men to see her and the one who found her. The action then flashes back to the woman, Mona, walking along the roadside, hiding from the police and trying to get a ride. Along her journey she takes up with other vagabonds as well as a Tunisian vineyard worker, a family of goat farmers, an agronomy professor, and a maid who envies what she perceives to be Mona's beautiful and passionate lifestyle. Mona explains to one of her temporary companions that at one time she was a secretary in Paris but became unsettled with the way she was living, choosing instead to wander the country, free from any responsibility. Her condition worsens until she finally falls where we first encounter herin a ditch, frozen to death.
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
The film was acclaimed by critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 100% of 20 critics gave the film a positive review, for an average rating of 8.