Vagabond (1985)

The critic hails the film as Varda’s masterpiece and a welcome re-release chronicling a wanderer’s final days in search of freedom. They single out Sandrine Bonnaire’s transcendent performance as central to its exceptional beauty and nuanced storytelling.

The critic praises the film as one of Varda's greatest, a cool, enigmatic and gripping chronicle of a young woman's troubled life and death told through fragmented testimonies. It singles out the structural artistry and the unforgettable central performance by Sandrine Bonnaire as Mona for particular admiration.

The critic describes the film as scrupulous and hardheaded about an eighteen-year-old drifter, praising Bonnaire's immaculate performance and Varda's purity and boldness of approach. It affirms the integrity in every frame and explains the awards it won.

Varda's film is impossible to forget, capturing the traces left by its enigmatic, unsympathetic drifter protagonist Mona through the memories of those she encounters. It creates a portrait that is neither romantic nor judgmental, emphasizing her physical reality and impenetrable motives amid a rigorously composed, documentary-like structure.

Varda blends fictional and non-fictional modes to reconstruct the life of drifter Mona through interviews with those who encountered her before her death. The film stands out for its refusal to turn her into an allegory or easy object of sympathy while capturing a universal sense of dislocation.

The critic finds that Varda keeps the film from being a monumental downer, calling it haunting, melancholy and ultimately exhilarating. It singles out the opaque central character and the way the film leaves viewers turning over her contradictions.

The critic praises the film's specific, unadorned story of a young woman who cannot truly be known despite encounters with many people. It highlights the power of its realistic approach in prompting later reflection on how little we know those whose lives briefly intersect ours.

Varda uses a multi-perspective structure to explore the enigmatic freedom and isolation of drifter Mona, confounding easy judgments about her choices and character. The film excels in its visual and thematic rigor, treating Mona as an individual rather than a symbol while probing questions of compassion and social norms.

The critic notes that Varda forces viewers to respond to externals and makes a triumph of rendering the difficult-to-like or understand Mona. It finds the film grueling yet effective in creating a painfully real world.

The critic praises Vagabond as a masterful exploration of a young woman's pursuit of freedom and independence, comparing it favorably to Into the Wild and highlighting Varda's insightful portrayal of human psychology and the female experience.