The Gleaners and I

2000
7.7| 1h22m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 07 July 2000 Released
Producted By: Ciné-Tamaris
Country: France
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Varda focuses her eye on gleaners: those who scour already-reaped fields for the odd potato or turnip. Her investigation leads from forgotten corners of the French countryside to off-hours at the green markets of Paris, following those who insist on finding a use for that which society has cast off, whether out of necessity or activism.

Genre

Documentary

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Director

Agnès Varda

Production Companies

Ciné-Tamaris

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The Gleaners and I Audience Reviews

Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some
Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
besherat And here's a really interesting movie to watch. Mestral achievement by French director Agnes Varda. This is a documentary film that is conceived so that as a basis, a sociological motive is passed through painting, applied art, philosophy and psychology. It's about the people who are engaged in "harvesting" after the harvest. The film takes as its basis the famous painting of French painter Jean-François Millet entitled "The Gleaners" 1857 (collectors). The story runs through the French provinces, exploring where the places are allowed to "harvest" the fruits after harvest. Their view of this act, both collectors themselves, and people who come in contact with them, owners of fruit plantations, supermarket bosses and judges. The same motive of "collecting", the author of this film shows from the angle of the poor collectors, to whom this is the only way to find a food. It further considers this through the prism of collectors of rejected things, which apply them to applied art and ultimately portrays this sociological phenomenon as a kind of a life philosophy that says that in nature absolutely everything can be used. The wonderful nature , the extraordinary film camera, superb music and above all, the plethora of interesting educational information, make this film worthwhile for watching.
Grant Gadbois This particular documentary tells the unique story of an activity and a people that many are most likely oblivious to. And it documents and explores this historical "profession"–– though it is probably better described as a necessity for many. The form follows in Agnes Varda's French New Wave style, introducing the filmmaker as a central character who self-reflects throughout her journey. It excels in the regard of documenting these characters and their lives and their struggles. The overall picture is very simple, and does not go out of its way to entertain the audience. The viewer's interest must already be piqued, but if it is, Varda will grab and maintain the viewer's attention for the entirety of the film.
WilliamCKH I love this film so much. In addition to all the insights from previous comments, I'd like to add that there are no moral judgements made on Varda's part about not only the people she meets who are gleaners, but also those were are on the opposing side. The harshest words she says about them is that "they don't want to be nice".I think if I met most of the people in this documentary on the street, I would simply pass them by (without knowing or wanting to know anything about them), but Varda has such a knack in finding their humanity, their beauty, that I am humbled by her curiosity and love of her fellow human beings. In the accompanying film on the DVD - made two years after the film, a woman on the street points out that after watching this film you want to become a better human being. What else is there to say after that? It is also important to note that it is a film that resonates, for me anyway, so that the desire to be a better human being is not a fleeting desire felt only after watching the film, it does stay with you.
jotix100 Jean Francois Millet, the French painter of the Barbizon school, seems to have been the inspiration for Agnes Varda's interesting documentary "Les glaneurs et la glaneuse". In fact, Ms. Varda makes it a point to take us along to the French countryside where Millet got the inspiration for his masterpiece "Les Glaneurs". Like in his other paintings, Millet comments about the peasantry working the fields in most of his canvases. One can see the poverty in his subjects as they struggle to gather crops for their employers.Ms. Varda takes a humanistic approach to another type of activity in which she bases her story. In fact, the people one sees in the film are perhaps the descendants of the gleaners of Millet's time, except they are bringing whatever is left behind once the machinery takes care of gathering the best of each crop, leaving the rest to rot in the fields.Agnes Varda takes a trip through her native France to show us the inequality of a system that produces such excesses that a part of it has to be dumped because it doesn't meet standards. On the one hand, there is such abundance, and on the other, one sees how some of the poor people showcased in the documentary can't afford to buy the basics and must resort to take it on their own to get whatever has been left in order to survive.With this documentary, Agnes Varda shows an uncanny understanding to the problems most of these people are facing.