A judge explains the laws that allow for gleaning in France. In New York City, items taken from the trash are called “mongo,” and the practice is strictly prohibited, though the ban is rarely enforced.

From night-soil men in Victorian England to rag pickers in fin de siècle New York to centuries of gleaners on French farms and vineyards, people have long improved their lot in life by collecting the waste of others. French New Wave legend Agnes Varda, in a contemplative mood about her own mortality, seeking a sense of regeneration, trained her cameras for this artsy documentary on a variety of people who glean and reuse discarded items.

Varda visits rustic farms and urban markets in France, where she meets gypsies who collect unwanted produce to feed themselves, artists who find thrown-away items to utilize in their work and well-employed people who glean on principle, disgusted by the waste of modern society. “They’re like presents left on the street,” says one artist, turning other people’s trash into his treasure. “It’s like Christmas.” And it truly is remarkable the high level of food, furniture and finery that these determined foragers find for free.

But Varda isn’t merely interested in the hunt and the quarry recovered–she’s just as fascinated by the inspiration fueling each search. In a Parisian market, she meets an incredibly intelligent if awkward soul who gleans almost all his food from vendors’ scraps, which gives him the strength to teach free language courses to immigrants in a shelter basement. He’s gained sustenance from the so-called garbage, and the director, grown weary with age, gains the same from his nobility.•