Vagabond (1985)
Vagabond (1985), directed by Agnès Varda, starring Sandrine Bonnaire and Macha Méril.
score
Synopsis
Mona Bergeron is dead, her frozen body found in a ditch in the French countryside. From this, the film flashes back to the weeks leading up to her death. Through these flashbacks, Mona gradually declines as she travels from place to place, taking odd jobs and staying with whomever will offer her a place to sleep. Mona is fiercely independent, craving freedom over comfort, but it is this desire to be free that will eventually lead to her demise.
- Patrick BlossierCinematography
- Agnès VardaDirector, Editing, Writer
- Patricia MazuyEditing
- Oury MilshteinProducer
About the film
Vagabond (French: Sans toit ni loi, literally "without roof or law") is a 1985 French drama film written and directed by Agnès Varda and starring Sandrine Bonnaire. Beginning with the discovery of a young female vagabond in a ditch, the film tells—via flashbacks—the story of her last winter, which she spent wandering around the Languedoc-Roussillon wine country.
The film premiered at the 42nd Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion, and was nominated for four César Awards, with Bonnaire winning Best Actress. It was the 36th highest-grossing film of the year in France, with a total of 1,080,143 admissions.
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Vagabond (French: Sans toit ni loi, literally "without roof or law") is a 1985 French drama film written and directed by Agnès Varda and starring Sandrine Bonnaire. Beginning with the discovery of a young female vagabond in a ditch, the film tells—via flashbacks—the story of her last winter, which she spent wandering around the Languedoc-Roussillon wine country.
The film premiered at the 42nd Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion, and was nominated for four César Awards, with Bonnaire winning Best Actress. It was the 36th highest-grossing film of the year in France, with a total of 1,080,143 admissions.
Plot
On a cold winter morning in the vineyards of a small village in the Gard region of France, the contorted body of a young woman, Mona Bergeron, is discovered in a ditch. The local gendarmes quickly determine she is a vagrant who froze to death, and she is buried in a potter's field.
Mona's last winter is revealed through flashbacks framed by interviews with those who crossed paths with her. She wanders the country alone, hitchhiking, sleeping in a tent, and doing odd jobs to survive. She endures hunger, thirst, cold, and a scarcity of tobacco and cannabis. On her journey, Mona meets a housekeeper, a family of goat farmers, a professor specialising in plane trees, a Tunisian vineyard worker, and a group of homeless youths who spend their time drinking, doing drugs, and committing petty crimes at a railway station. She tells one companion that she left her life as a secretary in Paris to seek freedom and life without responsibility.
Mona's boots fall apart, and after she loses her tent and sleeping bag in a fire at a squat in Nîmes, she is left with only a blanket for warmth. She stumbles across a bizarre harvest festival, where she is daubed with wine dregs by men in strange costumes. After escaping, she wanders into a vineyard, where she falls into a ditch. Tired, cold, wet, and now injured, she does not get up, and succumbs to the elements.
Cast
Title
The film's original French title, Sans toit ni loi ("without roof or law"), is word play based on a common French idiom, "sans foi ni loi" ("with neither faith nor law"). It also a pun on sans toi ("without you").
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 the full picture. It was filmed in the departments of Gard, Hérault, and Bouches-du-Rhône.
Critical reception
The film was acclaimed by critics. Roger Ebert gave it four stars out of four, writing: "like so many of the greatest films, it tells us a very specific story, strong and unadorned, about a very particular person". On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 26 critics' reviews of Vagabond are positive.
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
External links
Vagabond at IMDb
Vagabond at the TCM Movie Database (archived)
Vagabond at Rotten Tomatoes
Vagabond an essay by Sandy Flitterman-Lewis at the Criterion Collection
Text from Vagabond (1985 film) on Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagabond_(1985_film)
Trivia
- It grossed US$ 8.1 million worldwide.
- It premiered on December 4, 1985, a Wednesday.
- It runs 1h46 — a typical feature length.
- Its original title is "Sans toit ni loi".
- It won 1 award(s) and received 1 nomination(s) on record at Wikidata — Golden Lion among them.
- As of September 20, 2026, it is available in Brazil by subscription on Oldflix.
- This film's quiz has 12 questions — enough to play more than once without repeats.
Production
- StudiosFilms A2, Ciné-Tamaris, Ministère de la culture
- CountriesFrance
- LanguagesArabic, French
- Box officeUS$ 8,100,000
- StatusReleased
More about this film
Awards
- Golden Lion 1985
Nominations
- César Award for Best Actress 1986
Where to watch
Videos
Photos
Cast
-
Sandrine Bonnaire
Mona Bergeron -
Macha Méril
Madame Landier -
Yolande Moreau
Yolande -
Stéphane Freiss
Jean-Pierre - Setti Ramdane The Moroccan Who Discovers Mona
- Yahiaoui Assouna Assoun
-
Marthe Jarnias
Old Aunt Lydie - Francis Balchère Gendarmerie
- Jean-Louis Perletti Gendarmerie
- Urbain Causse Farmer Interviewed
- Christophe Alcazar Ditch Burner
- Dominique Durand First Biker
- Joël Fosse Paulo
- Patrick Schmit Camionneur
-
Daniel Bos
Wrecker - Katy Champaud Girl at the Pump
- Raymond Roulle Old Man with Matches
- Laurence Cortadellas Eliane
- Henri Fridiani The Gravedigger
- Patrick Sokol The Young Man with the Sandwich
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Tags
Crew
- Patrick Blossier Cinematography
- Agnès Varda Director
- Agnès Varda Editing
- Patricia Mazuy Editing
- Oury Milshtein Producer
- Agnès Varda Writer
Questions about this film
What is Vagabond about?
Vagabond: Mona Bergeron is dead, her frozen body found in a ditch in the French countryside. From this, the film flashes back to the weeks leading up to her death. Through these flashbacks, Mona gradually declines as she travels from place to place, taking odd jobs and staying with whomever will offer her a place to sleep. Mona…
Who directed Vagabond?
Vagabond was directed by Agnès Varda in 1985.
Who stars in Vagabond?
The cast of Vagabond includes Sandrine Bonnaire, Macha Méril, Yolande Moreau, Stéphane Freiss and Setti Ramdane.
How long is Vagabond?
Vagabond runs for 106 minutes, or 1h46.
Where can I watch Vagabond?
Vagabond is available on Oldflix. Availability changes often: the list on this page is the most recent we received.
What awards did Vagabond win?
Vagabond has 1 recorded awards, among them Golden Lion.
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Page updated on 09/12/2026.
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