We know from the very beginning the fate of Sandrine Bonnaire's
Mona, the "Vagabond" of the title in Agnes Varda's magnificent film.
She's dead, a frozen corpse in a ditch and then, in flashbacks, we see
how she got there. Varda never passes judgment and "Vagabond", like her
very best films, is a work of observation. As well as a handful of
professional actors she uses the people of the towns and villages
Bonnaire passes through, giving the film an air of reality while Bonnaire herself is simply superb.
Varda doesn't require her to do anything but exist and it's a very
'un-actressy' performance, closer to real life than to what we are used
to seeing in the movies. Now and again the film dips into the
conventional as if Varda is trying to put some meat on its bones but for
the most part, this is a remarkable work and one of the best of its
director's career.
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