Gleaners and I

Theatrical Release Date: 2001 03 07 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 795975101530

Studio: Zeitgeist Films

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:null

Summary: Legendary filmmaker Agnes Varda takes digital camcorder in hand and roams about the French countryside in search of "gleaners." An age-old practice, as depicted in Millet's famous painting, performed traditionally by peasant women, gleaners scavenged the remains of a crop after the harvest. Varda finds their modern-day equivalent collecting rejected potatoes outside of Lyon, fallen apples in Provence, and refuse in the markets of Paris. Along the way, she talks to a man sporting yellow rubber boots who has lived on trash for ten years, a gourmet chef who gleans for his restaurant, a homeless doctorate in biology who teaches literacy courses to immigrants for free, a couple of artists who use trash in their work, and the grandson of early cinema innovator ?tienne-Jules Marey. Along the way, Varda discusses heart-shaped potatoes, big trucks on the highway, the waste of consumerism, and the ravages of time. This film was screened at the 2000 Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Category: Culture & Society

Awards: Prix Arte – European Film Academy Best Documentary – National Society of Film Critics Best Documentary – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Documentary – New York Film Critics Circle

Features: The exclusive follow-up film by Agn?s Varda
"The Gleaners and I Two Years Later"
Production notes by Varda
Varda filmography

Gleaners and I

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 07/23/2002

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Runtime: 142 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) French

Subtitles: English

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. The Origins of Gleaning [2:38]
2. Gleaning Today [1:56]
3. Using Mini-DV [1:15]
4. Gleaning Potatoes [5:56]
5. Claude's Story [5:54]
6. The Gleaning Chef [2:31]
7. Burgundy: The Vineyards [5:21]
8. Gleaning Vs. Picking [2:09]
9. The Laws of Gleaning [2:46]
10. Gleaning Souvenirs [2:44]
11. Artists Who Glean [7:45]
12. Along the Shore [3:50]
13. Dance of the Lens Cap [2:51]
14. E.J. Marey's Legacy [2:29]
15. Eating Garbage [6:03]
16. Art From Trash [1:40]
17. Salomon's Story [3:01]
18. Fridge Exhibition [:51]
19. Along the Rh?ne [4:33]
20. About Salvaging [3:57]
21. Alain's Story [6:12]
22. Last Revelation [2:02]

Jonathan Crow

Though Agnes Varda insists that she is far from hanging up her camera, Gleaners and I feels like a summation of her long and varied career. As in Vagabond and Kung Fu Master, this film features a strong female central character who lives at the margins of society and who in fact refuses society's embrace. The only difference is that this central character is Varda herself. In this film, she wanders -- another major Varda motif -- about France encountering scavengers of every strip and color. Of course being a film by Agnes Varda, who coined the term "cinecriture" -- or cine-writing -- to describe her work, Gleaners is less a straight documentary on the enduring practice of gleaning than a complex cinematic essay ? la Chris Marker on the metaphoric, artistic, and political meanings behind gleaning. To her great credit, Varda never gets self-indulgent or pedantic. Instead of trotting out warmed over Marxist platitudes when she shows one rich farmer who refuses to let gleaners on his land, she succinctly notes that "some people don't want to be nice." Underlining the film is a rumination about Varda's own mortality. She includes numerous shots of her wrinkled, spotted hands and of her graying hair. She reminisces about her distant childhood and her long life. At the same time, she includes numerous humorous (often at her own expense) detours that keep the film light and engaging. Gleaners and I is a marvelous work that provokes as it entertains. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Joanna Bruzdowicz  Composer (Music Score) 
Agnès Varda  Director 
Agnès Varda  Producer 

Country: France