--- title: "The Gleaners and I" year: 2000 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-gleaners-and-i" fi1m_id: "the-gleaners-and-i" imdb_id: "tt0247380" tmdb_id: 44379 wikidata_id: "Q2493884" fi1m_score: 85 critics_score: 76 critics_reviews: 8 published: "2026-09-26T03:11:42.070330+00:00" updated: "2026-09-26T03:11:42.478136+00:00" region: "AU" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Gleaners and I (2000) Directed by Agnès Varda · 1h 22m · ACB MA 15+ · Documentary ## Identity The Gleaners and I - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-gleaners-and-i - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** the-gleaners-and-i - **IMDb ID:** tt0247380 - **TMDB ID:** 44379 - **Wikidata ID:** Q2493884 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0247380/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/44379, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2493884 **Fi1m score: 85** · Critics 76 from 8 reviews *In a sentence:* Agnès Varda makes us feel we have been putting the wrong things in the bin > Agnès Varda makes an absorbing, funny documentary about finding uses for what other people discard. Her curiosity gives people space to speak, though the wandering occasionally takes us away from someone worth hearing. ## Synopsis Agnès Varda (herself) turns her camera towards people who gather what others discard, seeking to understand how they glean a living. Bodan Litnanski (himself) and François Wertheimer (himself) are among the participants. Using a lightweight digital camera, she also brings her own responses into the account. Her enquiry follows people living on society’s margins and asks what can still be used when somebody else has decided it has no value. As she moves between encounters, collecting observations of her own, the question of what is worth keeping extends beyond objects to the lives and experiences the camera records. ## Review *The Gleaners and I* is a fine documentary about a practice most of us seldom consider: living from what other people leave behind. Agnès Varda approaches gleaning with interest rather than alarm, and the film benefits from her refusal to treat every encounter as an emergency. She wants to know the people doing it. The result is warm, funny and more searching than its casual manner first suggests. The lightweight digital camerawork helps. Cinematography is shared by Didier Rouget, Agnès Varda, Didier Doussin, Pascal Sautelet and Stéphane Krausz. The unpolished images suit a film interested in what gets overlooked. The pictures have the quickness of someone noticing something and wanting to show us, and their playfulness suits a director happy to be distracted. We can follow her attention without having every change of direction explained. The people she meets are the reason that restlessness matters. She listens without turning every reply into proof of how decent or resourceful somebody is, even though resourcefulness keeps appearing. We were moved by the gleaners talking about getting by, and by her willingness to listen. Their accounts are allowed to be ordinary; she does not hurry them towards a dramatic declaration about their circumstances. The conversations reward that patience because the speakers have room to decide what they want to tell her. The editing by Agnès Varda, Jean-Baptiste Morin and Laurent Pineau gives that curiosity plenty of room. The film asks us to accept a detour simply because she finds it interesting, and mostly that is enough. Occasionally we wanted her to stay with a person a little longer, and the movement towards the next discovery felt premature. At 82 minutes, the film is short, but there are still moments when its freedom to wander becomes an excuse for not pressing further. We leave some encounters wishing she had asked another question. Joanna Bruzdowicz and Isabelle Olivier are credited with the music, which suits the film’s unforced manner. There is no need for the score to manufacture warmth when Agnès Varda supplies so much of it herself. As both filmmaker and participant, she is amused, interested and quite happy to follow an apparently minor thought. Her presence could have made the film tiresome: a visitor congratulating herself for noticing other people’s lives. Instead, her humour makes her good company, and she remains interested in the people she has come to meet. There is a familiar danger in documentaries about people living on the margins: the audience gets to feel compassionate while learning surprisingly little about anybody. This film earns our trust by giving the people it meets room to be funny, practical and individual. They need not become examples of how the rest of us ought to live. Anyone expecting a methodical account of gleaning may find the personal diversions frustrating, and we sometimes shared that frustration. Give it an evening when there is no hurry to get to the point. *Fi1m score 85, published 26 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is The Gleaners and I worth watching?** *The Gleaners and I* is well worth watching for its humour, patient listening and curiosity about people living from what others discard; we score it 85. We recommend it to anyone who enjoys documentaries led by encounters rather than a fixed argument, though Varda’s wandering sometimes takes us away from someone we want to hear more from. **How long is The Gleaners and I, and what is it rated?** *The Gleaners and I* runs 1h 22m and is rated MA 15+ by the ACB in Australia. It is a documentary film. **Where can I watch The Gleaners and I in Australia?** *The Gleaners and I* is streaming on MUBI and Amazon Prime Video in Australia. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How does The Gleaners and I compare to Local Hero?** *The Gleaners and I* shares [*Local Hero*](https://film.one/film/local-hero)’s gentle pace and interest in people outsiders overlook, but explores them through documentary encounters rather than a comic property deal. We recommend Varda’s film more strongly for its patient attention to people’s accounts of getting by; *Local Hero* is the better fit for an evening of dry comedy, though its fondness for eccentricity sometimes softens its questions. **What should I watch after The Gleaners and I?** After *The Gleaners and I*, try [*Local Hero*](https://film.one/film/local-hero) (1983, Fi1m 86): A dry comedy about money, place and the people outsiders fail to notice. Then [*Paterson*](https://film.one/film/paterson) (2016, Fi1m 84): Another patient observer finding enough for a film in overlooked daily routines; and [*Honeyland*](https://film.one/film/honeyland) (2019, Fi1m 82): Close attention to work and survival, with a less forgiving view of scarcity. ### Reviews we read (8) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kevin Thomas (85/100, inferred): The critic finds the documentary captivating, inventive, and warmly observant. He especially praises Varda’s curiosity and the resilience and generosity of the people she encounters. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-apr-06-ca-47419-story.html) - **Slant Magazine**, Elise Nakhnikian (85/100, inferred): The critic finds the film joyful, lighthearted, and hopeful. She praises Varda’s playful, unpretentious curiosity and her ability to let the people she meets speak for themselves. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/a-movie-a-day-day-80-the-gleaners-and-i/) - **The AV Club**, Scott Tobias (80/100, inferred): Tobias gives Varda’s documentary a warm, positive assessment. He especially praises her playful camera work and the affection and good humor she brings to its social observations. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-gleaners-and-i-1798197308) - **Time Out**, WH (75/100, inferred): The review presents the documentary as delightful and encouraging. It praises Varda’s identification with the people who glean a living. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-gleaners-and-i) - **Variety**, Brendan Kelly (75/100, inferred): Kelly finds the documentary memorable, intriguing, and fascinating, despite its limited commercial prospects. He praises Varda’s down-to-earth, off-the-cuff approach and the portrait it creates of people on society’s fringes. [Read](https://variety.com/2000/film/reviews/the-gleaners-and-i-1200462010/) - **The Guardian**, Xan Brooks (70/100, inferred): Brooks presents the documentary as a likably mercurial, engaging work. He singles out its first-person approach and flyweight digital-camera style. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/movie/84841/gleaners.and.i) - **The New York Times** (65/100, inferred): The URL identifies this as a New York Times film-festival review of the film. The blocked page provides no accessible verdict or details about what the critic praised or criticized. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/30/movies/film-festival-review-a-reaper-of-the-castoff-be-it-material-or-human.html) - **Eye for Film**, Symon Parsons (75/100, inferred): The review finds Varda’s documentary good-natured, funny and full of unexpected discoveries. It praises her eccentric humour and enthusiasm for bringing value to overlooked things. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/les-glaneurs-et-la-glaneuse-film-review-by-symon-parsons) ## Details - **Director:** Agnès Varda - **Director:** Agnès Varda - **Writer:** Agnès Varda - **Cinematography:** Agnès Varda, Didier Doussin, Pascal Sautelet, Stéphane Krausz, Didier Rouget - **Editor:** Laurent Pineau, Agnès Varda, Jean-Baptiste Morin - **Music:** Isabelle Olivier, Joanna Bruzdowicz - **Cast:** Agnès Varda as Self; Bodan Litnanski as Self; François Wertheimer as Self - **Runtime:** 1h 22m - **Certificate (ACB):** MA 15+ - **Release (Australia):** 13 April 2025 - **Genres:** Documentary ## Where to watch in Australia - MUBI: streaming, hd - Amazon Prime Video: add-on *Checked 2026-09-26.* Also available in: AE, AT, AU, BE, BG, DK, EE, ES, FI, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IL, IN, LT, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PH, PL, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - European Film Award for Best Documentary 2000: European Film Award for Best Documentary (won) ## If you liked this - *The Beaches of Agnès* (2008): A personal documentary with the same appetite for people, play and digression. - *The House Is Black* (1963): A short documentary that looks closely at people without reducing them to hardship. - *Local Hero* (1983), Fi1m 86: A dry comedy about money, place and the people outsiders fail to notice. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/local-hero.md) - *Paterson* (2016), Fi1m 84: Another patient observer finding enough for a film in overlooked daily routines. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/paterson.md) - *Honeyland* (2019), Fi1m 82: Close attention to work and survival, with a less forgiving view of scarcity. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/honeyland.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-gleaners-and-i