Vagabond Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Vagabond Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 31, 2020

Note: This film is available as part of The Complete Films of Agnès Varda.

In the wake (figurative or otherwise) of Agnès Varda’s death last year at the age of 90, quite a bit has rightfully been written about this iconic force in both French and global cinema. Varda’s output includes well over fifty credits as a director (including some television entries as detailed by the IMDb), and aside from listing some of her better known triumphs, many obituaries and/or eulogies about Varda mentioned any number of other biographical data points, including her rather unique position as a woman in France’s nouvelle vague movement, her own feminism which was featured none too subtly in some of her films, and her frequently provocative experimental style. But you know what one of the things that kind of fascinates me personally most about Varda? That she was married for 28 years to Jacques Demy, from 1962 until Demy’s death in 1990. That Varda, often a purveyor of verité infused “realism”, whether that be in outright documentaries or at least ostensibly more “fictional” outings, and Demy, a director whose candy colored, dreamlike and at least relatively "Hollywoodized" musicals with Michel Legrand brought a new luster and gloss to French cinema, managed to make a marital go of it for so long is certainly testament to the maxim that “opposites attract”, even if those oppositional forces in this instance played out at least in part in terms of what kinds of films the two were often best remembered for. If Varda's long marriage to Demy is more than enough reason to celebrate her personal life, her professional life is beautifully feted in this rather astounding new set from Criterion, which aggregates an amazing 39 films (albeit some running as short as a few minutes) to provide what is arguably one of the most insightful overviews of Varda's cinematic oeuvre. Perhaps unavoidably, but also undeniably movingly, these personal and professional sides of Varda merge in at least some of the films in this set, including The Young Girls Turn 25, The World of Jacques Demy, Jacquot de Nantes, and The Beaches of Agnès.

Before discussing how this film begins in detail, which I guess some might consider a spoiler (so forewarned is forearmed), in general Vagabond is a very rare film from Agnès Varda which depicts a woman more or less completely unable to control her own life. Now, many Varda films have depicted women in various straits, to be sure, with outings like Cléo from 5 to 7 and Documenteur springing instantly to mind (and for rather different reasons, interestingly), but Vagabond (and here's the potential spoiler part) begins with the revelation that a corpse has been found in the field of a farm, and the entire film then gives way to a flashback detailing what led a more or less homeless young girl named Mona Bergeron (Sandrine Bonnaire, César Award winner for Best Actress in 1986 for this performance) to this sad state of affairs.

Vagabond is another of Varda's supposedly "fictional" films where she still blends a kind of quasi-documentary approach at times, in this case via interstitial "interviews" with various characters who interacted with Mona on her sad descent. Once again Varda tends to explore small village life almost discursively here vis a vis some of the anecdotes shared by the interviewees. What's kind of odd and yet absolutely gut wrenching about this whole plot line is that in a way Varda is once again introducing the viewer to a completely unorthodox, headstrong heroine, one who is intent on finding her own path in life. However, Mona, while having a series of at least partially fulfilling "adventures", still seems to be on a collision course with tragedy, and that of course plays out (albeit in a completely peculiar way).

This is an unavoidably sad and melancholy film that is bleak and kind of emotionally exhausting after a while. As such, it probably communicates Mona's internal emotional life even more viscerally.

Vagabond Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Vagabond is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. Some prefatory text discloses that this was filmed on 35mm argentic color stock in a 1.66 panoramic format and was restored by Ciné Tamaris in 2014 at Laboratory Eclair, with a 2K digital restoration from a 2K scan of the original negative. Color grading was supervised by Agnès Varda and Patrick Blossier. Since Varda had a hand in color grading all of the main features included in this set, I have to assume she kind of prefers a slightly cooler looking palette, and this presentation once again has a slightly bluish tone at times that is probably highlighted even more by the prevalence of drab, wintry scenes in a lot of the outdoor material. That said, there are some really vivid pops of color in this presentation, and some of the flesh tones look positively ruddy. There is a relatively early sunlit scene on a beach where things look uncharacteristically warm (in terms of the look of the rest of the film), and things like the bright colors on a motorcycle helmet in this sequence pop very well. Textures on fabrics are also typically very nicely rendered, and the purples in a climactic scene involving wine are really very vivid. Grain is rather heavy throughout this presentation, and can be especially gritty looking against skies.

Vagabond Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Vagabond features an LPCM Mono track in the original French. The sound restoration was made by L.E. Diapason from the original 35mm magnetic mix. This is another Varda film with a rather astringent string score, which sounds intentionally dry and brittle at times. Other score elements, like the muted trumpet jazz solo that plays under the closing credits, sound considerably warmer. The vast bulk of this film takes place outside, and there are some really nice ambient differences in the location work that help to vividly establish the various locations. Narration and dialogue are all presented without any problems whatsoever.

Vagabond Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Remembrances (1080i; 40:37) is another case of Varda "revisiting" earlier works and reuniting with former collaborators , this time some eighteen years after Vagabond was originally filmed. In French with English subtitles.


• The Story of an Old Lady (1080i; 3:47) features Marthe Jarnias, who plays Aunt Lydie in Vagabond. In French with English subtitles.


• Music and Dolly Shots (1080i; 12:16) is a 2003 conversation between Varda and composer Joanna Bruzdowicz. In French with English subtitles.


• To Nathalie Sarraute (1080i; 9:18) is from a 1986 audio interview with Varda and writer Nathalie Sarraute, hosted by Alain Veinstein. In French with English subtitles. This plays to stills.


• Plotting in Vagabond (1080p; 15:28 ) is a 2019 piece produced by The Criterion Channel with Professor David Bordwell looking at some of the storytelling "strategies" Varda employed in the film.


• Trailer (1080i; 2:28)

Vagabond Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is another stylistic tour de force for Varda (the supplement dealing with dolly shots is especially instructive in this regard), but this is a film probably "owned" lock, stock and (wine?) barrel by Sandrine Bonnaire. The story is unavoidably sad, even tragic, but it's also perhaps unexpectedly scenic, if in a rainy, gray sort of way. Technical merits are solid and the supplemental package very enjoyable. Recommended.