One Sings, the Other Doesn't Budget

What Is the Budget of One Sings, the Other Doesn't (1977)?

One Sings, the Other Doesn't (1977), written and directed by Agnès Varda, was produced on an estimated budget of approximately 2,500,000 French francs, equivalent to approximately $500,000 to $750,000 in 1977 U.S. dollars. The figure has not been formally disclosed by Varda's Ciné-Tamaris production company or the French co-financiers, but the contained narrative structure following two women across roughly 15 years, the modest French-Iranian-Belgian location footprint, and the post-Cleo from 5 to 7 Varda independent-feature production template support a figure in the mid-six-figure range typical of French nouvelle-vague-era productions.

The film was financed and produced by Ciné-Tamaris (Agnès Varda's own production company), Paradise Films, Population Films, and Société Française de Production, with support from the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC) and broadcasters including Antenne 2. The film premiered at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival on May 26, 1977 and released theatrically in France on March 9, 1977.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

The estimated $500,000 to $750,000 budget covered a feminist narrative spanning 1962 to 1976 with locations across France, Iran, and Belgium:

• Above-the-Line Talent: Valérie Mairesse anchored as Pomme (the singing protagonist) at a French independent-cinema lead rate. Thérèse Liotard took the Suzanne role at a comparable French-independent rate. Robert Dadiès, Mona Mairesse, Francis Lemaire, François Courbin, Salomé Wimille, and Nicole Clément filled out the ensemble at French-independent supporting rates.
• Writer-Director Package: Agnès Varda wrote and directed at a post-Cleo from 5 to 7 and post-Le Bonheur established French-feminist-cinema rate. Varda also produced through Ciné-Tamaris, integrating the producer compensation into the overall above-the-line allocation.
• Multi-Country Production: Principal photography took place across France (Paris and the Pyrenees), Iran (Tehran and Isfahan), and Belgium. The Iranian sequences in particular contributed substantially to the location-budget allocation. The shoot took place in 1976, ahead of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
• Songs and Music: The film centered on Pomme's feminist songs, which Varda commissioned from composer François Wertheimer. The substantial music line item supported the original songs that anchored each chapter of Pomme's musical journey from 1962 through 1976.
• Cinematography: Director of photography Charles Van Damme shot the film with the documentary-inflected register that characterized Varda's narrative work. The 35mm camera packages, the multi-country location lighting designs, and the period-1962-through-1976 setting required substantial cinematography line items.
• Period Production Design: The 15-year narrative span required period-correct production design across multiple eras of French and Iranian setting. Costume, production design, and the era-specific Parisian and Iranian street scenes were a meaningful production line item.

How Does One Sings, the Other Doesn't's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

One Sings, the Other Doesn't sits in the post-New-Wave French feminist-cinema landscape alongside comparable era peers:

• Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962): Budget approximately 600,000 French francs (~$120,000) | Worldwide French theatrical release. Varda's earlier real-time character study at smaller budget represents the director's previous benchmark.
• Wanda (1970): Budget approximately $115,000 | Worldwide limited theatrical. Barbara Loden's American feminist-independent at smaller budget represents an English-language peer in feminist directing of the era.
• Daisies (1966): Budget approximately $40,000 Czechoslovak koruna value | Worldwide festival circulation. Věra Chytilová's Czech New Wave feminist film at much smaller budget represents an earlier European feminist-cinema peer.
• Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975): Budget approximately 5,000,000 Belgian francs (~$120,000) | Worldwide festival and theatrical release. Chantal Akerman's Belgian feminist-cinema landmark at smaller budget released two years before One Sings, the Other Doesn't represents the closest contemporary peer.

One Sings, the Other Doesn't Box Office Performance

One Sings, the Other Doesn't released theatrically in France on March 9, 1977, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 26, 1977 in competition for the Palme d'Or, and released theatrically in the United States in late 1977 through Cinema 5 distribution. The film recorded 247,094 admissions in French theatrical release, and substantial additional festival-circuit screenings across the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.

Against the estimated $500,000 to $750,000 production budget, the financial breakdown:

• Production Budget: approximately $500,000 to $750,000 (~2,500,000 French francs)
• Estimated Prints & Advertising (P&A): approximately $300,000 to $500,000 (French and U.S. distribution)
• Total Estimated Investment: approximately $800,000 to $1,250,000
• Worldwide Gross: approximately $1,500,000 (estimate, primarily French theatrical and U.S. art-house)
• Net Return: modest theatrical profit, with substantial library value through Criterion Collection and Janus Films distribution
• ROI: approximately 1.2x to 2x on theatrical, with substantial subsequent home-video and academic-rental value

One Sings, the Other Doesn't returned roughly $1.20 to $2.00 in worldwide theatrical revenue for every $1 invested when measured against total estimated production and distribution spend. The film's commercial outcome was modest, but its place in the feminist-cinema canon supported substantial subsequent library value through Criterion Collection home-video release and academic-licensing revenue across the four-plus decades since release.

One Sings, the Other Doesn't Production History

One Sings, the Other Doesn't originated as Agnès Varda's response to the French Mouvement de libération des femmes (MLF) and the broader 1970s feminist-cinema movement. Varda had been involved in the activism around abortion-rights legalization in France, which culminated in the 1975 Veil Law that legalized abortion. The film integrated those activist concerns into a narrative structure that followed two women, Pomme and Suzanne, across roughly 15 years.

Varda wrote, directed, and produced the film through her Ciné-Tamaris production company, with co-financing from Paradise Films, Population Films, and Société Française de Production. The CNC and broadcaster Antenne 2 supported the project. Composer François Wertheimer wrote the original songs that Pomme performs throughout the film. Principal photography took place across France, Iran, and Belgium in 1976.

The film premiered at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival on May 26, 1977 in competition for the Palme d'Or. Cinema 5 distributed the film in the United States in late 1977. The film established Varda's voice as one of the central French feminist-cinema directors of the 1970s, alongside Marguerite Duras and Chantal Akerman. Varda continued to revisit feminist subject matter across The Beaches of Agnès (2008) and Faces Places (2017).

Awards and Recognition

One Sings, the Other Doesn't competed for the Palme d'Or at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival, won the Catholic Film Office of the OCIC Award at the 1977 Taormina Film Festival, and received broad critical-circle recognition at Cahiers du Cinéma and Positif year-end lists. The film has subsequently been included in the Criterion Collection and remains a key entry in feminist-cinema canon syllabi across French-cinema and women-and-film academic programs.

Critical Reception

One Sings, the Other Doesn't received broadly positive reviews. The film holds an 89% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on a more modest count of retrospective critic reviews aggregated across decades, with a critical consensus that praised Varda's warm direction, the dual-character structure following Pomme and Suzanne, and the integration of original feminist-anthem songs into the film's narrative spine. Metacritic did not formally aggregate the film given its 1977 vintage. CinemaScore did not poll the film.

Critics broadly praised Agnès Varda for a generous, character-driven feminist film that resisted the polemic register of much 1970s feminist cinema. Cahiers du Cinéma wrote at the time that the film "manages to be a feminist film without the burden of feminist didacticism, anchored by two performances that earn every emotional beat across 15 narrative years." Subsequent retrospective criticism has positioned the film as the warmest and most accessible of Varda's 1970s features, and the Criterion Collection retrospective release secured the film's place in the feminist-cinema canon. Common reservations cited the deliberately episodic narrative structure as occasionally diffuse. The strong reception over decades positioned the film as a foundational work of French feminist cinema.