Last week in class, we watched the documentary The Gleaners and I by Agnès Varda (2001). As part of our chapter and for a test in my french class, I was surprised I had watched another French Documentary so soon after. The name of the film was Être et Avoir by Nicolas Philibert (2002). Être and avoir translates to to be and to have. They both took place in a rural setting in France and both were in French throughout the whole film. I found both of the documentaries styles very appealing to me. They both had a sense of beauty and patience, and a touch of their own personal personality within it. Varda’s film had a reflexive approach in her film since herself and her voice were in it. In Être et Avoir, it was styled more like an observational documentary. The main teacher in the film, George Lopez, was not the actual film maker. I found Varda’s film educational because I personally learned about gleaning for the first time. Watching Être et Avoir feels almost like a mix of The Gleaners and I and High School by Frederick Wiseman. It was very entertaining to watch and to see how the children and the teacher reacted. Instead of including a trailer, I entered a small clip from the film so you can kind of get a feel for the style.