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April 1996, Week 3

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Subject:
From:
"G.Hayes" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 16 Apr 1996 10:16:04 0100
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>Date:    Wed, 3 Apr 1996 17:18:00 EST
>From:    lynda goldstein <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Agnes Varda's Vagabond
>
>There's a scene toward the end of Agnes Varda's _Vagabond_ in which Mona
>wanders into a village full of mud and shrub-clad men chasing inhabitants,
>soaking in mudbaths, and mauling passersby in mud-splattered glee. Just what is
>going on here--some sort of village folk ritual of the mud season?
>
>Thanks,
>Lynda Goldstein
>
 
I believe that it is wine rather than mud that the villagers are bombarding
each other with - I've always taken it as being some kind of fertility rite
symbolising the village's hopes for a good yield from the vines in the
coming year.
 
I think that this also ties in with the mythical status accorded to Mona -
rising from the sea and returning to the soil - and the use of religious
imagery throughout the film. It's interesting to look at the way that Mona
is constantly surrounded by straight lines, to which she is opposed through
her circular movement through the film (right to left rather than left to
right) and the film's own structure; at the end her body is frozen into
straight angles in a way that is not quite a crucifix.
 
Hope this helps!
 
Graeme Hayes
 
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