Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Varda focuses her eye on gleaners: those who scour already-reaped fields for the odd potato or turnip. Her investigation leads from forgotten corners of the French countryside to off-hours at the green markets of Paris, following those who insist on finding a use for that which society has cast off, whether out of necessity or activism.
Varda's essay-documentary is one of cinema's most distinctive and personal works — a meditation on gleaning, waste, and artistic creation that constantly folds back on itself with wit and tenderness. The handheld DV cinematography is not merely a practical choice but a conceptual one; Varda treats the camera as a gleaning instrument itself, snatching images of passing trucks, her own aging hands, and heart-shaped potatoes with equal delight. The film's novelty is exceptional: its digressive, playful first-person form, mixing sociological inquiry with autobiography and art history, is genuinely singular. The 'acting' category is largely inapplicable (documentary subjects), though Varda herself is a magnetic screen presence. The narrative structure is deliberately loose rather than dramatically propulsive, and the ending — reflective and quietly melancholic — is moving but not exceptional. A landmark of essayistic nonfiction filmmaking.