The Gleaners and I explores gleaning as something that happens not just physically but also on a deeper level. Director Agnès Varda participates in this process herself; she’s essentially gathering information about those who gather, similar to how Jesus gathered followers. It's a combination of everyday life and artistic expression. Many of the people featured in the movie glean because they need food ("Monday, potatoes/Tuesday, potatoes/Wednesday, potatoes again/Thursday, potatoes/Friday, potatoes/Saturday, potatoes again/Sunday, potatoes au gratin" is one song sung by their children). For some, it’s a deliberate way of living, or even something trendy. For Varda, gleaning is about aesthetics; as she mentioned in an interview, “I'm not poor, I have enough to eat,” and that leads her to "another kind of gleaning, which is artistic gleaning. You pick ideas, you pick images, you pick emotions from other people, and then you make it into a film.” While the gleaners generally collect things they can use, Varda picks something without purpose—a clock missing its hands—and turns it into an ornament. The Gleaners and I is almost entirely about wheat, with only small amounts of self-importance mixed in. The movie really moves when Varda simply watches what’s happening, and a great part of the enjoyment comes from how she allows for unplanned moments, getting distracted by beautiful things and interesting people. This forward motion disappears whenever Varda focuses on herself, which is an error that everyone else seems to notice except her; in fact, two years later, someone she interviewed told her that the segments dedicated to her were “unnecessary” after watching the film. Still, Varda should be commended for her talent at discovering beauty in surprising locations, both rural and urban, filming with one hand while gleaning with the other.

Source on TMDB