Society's attitude towards Mona

That's a funny turn one couldn't expect concerning this film! M-me Varda would be left with her mouth open.


Thank God, I'm an Atheist! - Luis Bunuel

She shouldn't be helped because she's smelly?



Force her into a camp? I don't think that worked out too well before.

Your response is a little extreme (ok, a lot..), but I don't blame you for being irritated my Mona's often ungrateful attitude. I think what Varda was trying to point out here though was the obligation many people will feel to help someone like her when she never actually asked for it. We aren't talking about just a little food here, but a complete fresh start that might eventually lead to a steady job, a house, car, children, etc. The thing is, Mona had already chosen the path that didn't really include those things, and while she does rely on people for food/shelter or otherwise, she has grown quite bitter and cautious from her life on the road.

I am sure that even if she did want to change her life, she has learned that most people, while they might mean well at first, will eventually drop her just like the professor in the film. This will make anyone cynical after a while, middle-finger at the ready, but when I look back on it I am not so bothered by it. Mona had chosen this life on the road, the life of solitude, and because most of society doesn't understand such a choice these little social side-effects are inevitable. I didn't exactly care for Mona's attitude, but I don't entirely blame her either. The attempt at unbiased honesty in this film is what makes this film so amazing for me, and I end up loving her prickly personality as I try and imagine the Hollywood version of this film.

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I hope you don't live in America and I hope you don't vote.

You are a crude, ignorant, hateful person.

Charity is not really a liberal invention. It was valued as a fundamental virtue in Christian patristic theology, also in the Islamic one, and I believe also in Buddhism, possibly also in other cultures.

Do you people realize that you're only seeing the character of Mona through the eyes of other people?? Of course she's going to come off as a sociopathic, lazy, ungrateful, and cold person. How else can we view other people except with detached emotion and annoyance?

We want people to be just like us, so we are angry when they do not say or do the things we ordinarily would in the situation. Remember people stopped for Mona, she didn't make them stop. She did not stand in the middle of the road and block their path. Furthermore she rarely ever asked for anything she couldn't pay for or that wasn't free. Remember the only thing she asks anyone for is water. People just give her stuff… and then whine about how "ungrateful" she is. Well…she didn't ask for it and the point of charity and and giving is to have no expectations placed on the person. Otherwise that's a bribe or blackmail…isn't it.

I also find it baffling that people keep trying to change her and mold her into what they want her to be or what they think she should be based on their own experiences. The only person who really seems to genuinely care about Mona is the professor. Sometimes I felt like they wanted to do it for some self righteous reason, so that they feel good about being the one to help Mona get on her feet. Most of the time I felt like they did it in a half hearted manner so as to not to feel completely guilty. But why should they? We don't know how to react to someone like Mona who has personally chosen not to be a member of society.

I'm not criticizing them, that's just how society works. It's give and take. You can't get something for nothing in this world. But that's what Mona was trying to break away from. She wasn't just dropping out of the materialistic world, she was dropping out of society wholly and completely. You can say her character is dark and cynical, but I don't really understand ungrateful. What in god's name is she ungrateful for? She has nothing, she barely has a pair of shoes. What is there to be grateful for? I've seen more ungrateful people living in giant houses in the suburbs, who despite their good fortune and luck, still find things to complain about.

Also, the point of the semi documentary style of this film, is that Mona is like a mirror to them. Everything they didn't like about themselves, their guilt, frustration, hostility, or sadness regarding Mona, is what is being reflected here. We're not actually seeing Mona herself.

Society's attitude towards Mona was greatly affected by the fact that she was a woman. If it had been a man living like that, it would have been much more "normal". That man would still be viewed as a bum living outside of society, but a male bum is much more customary and accepted, than a female bum. Especially a young female bum. We can imagine an old crazy homeless woman, but a young pretty homeless woman - that sounds almost illogical. Why would a young woman live like that? What motivates her? What's wrong with her? These questions loom behind all that happens in the movie, but are never answered. A truly captivating movie.