The Gleaners I

The Gleaners I

Documentary from French film-maker Agnès Varda examining the lives of those who live off the grid in France. Gleaning is the act of gathering the leftovers from a harvest after the main, profitable crop has been taken away by the farmer. As well as examining the lives of actual gleaners, who subsist from the remnants of modern agriculture, Varda visits those who live by more modern forms of gleaning.

She meets people who mine household and commercial waste for a living, a man who has lived almost completely on discarded food for over a decade despite having a job and several other intriguing characters. The picture that emerges is of an alternative form of life to throwaway, consumerist culture and a value system based on essentials rather than excess.