The French female director, “Agnes Varda”, burst onto the cinematic world in 1962 with the intensely emotional and seemingly personnel film, “Cleo from 5 to 7”.
The title states the entire premise of the film. Cleo is a ravishing French Pop star living in glamorous Paris, who fears she has cancer and is awaiting confirmation of this from a medical test result due in two hours. The movie begins a little bit after five in the afternoon and ends just before seven. Shot in real time mode, and running for 90 minutes. It begins with an ominous and foreboding tarot card forecast and ends after meeting her doctor by chance as he is leaving the hospital.
In watching the movie I was brought into the real anxiety that permeated inside our heroine as she tries to pass the time waiting, by first attempting to pretend that life continues normally, and then trying to appreciate the vibrant life of Paris, as if it would not last. She meets fake friends, real friends, colleagues and watches a film within a film through the screening of a quirky silent movie.
Quirky and strange is this silent film, because the story takes place in 1962 and Varda makes sure we know about the violent upheavals taking place during the French war in Algeria going on at the time. Having a silent film being shown in a Parisian Theatre in 1962 seemed out of place. It’s insertion to me hinted at both the directors present and past influences.
One of the present new French directors of the time (Godard) is a main character in the film within a film, and later on in the movie there is a touchingly long bus ride Cleo has with a soldier on leave that feels like homage to the great tram car scene from F.W. Murnau silent masterpiece, “Sunrise”.
Shot in real time the movie does not try to convey a one shot feel but rather uses intricate editing that allow numerous messages to be conveyed. The closer Cleo gets to a possible terrifying revelation, the more focused she is to her surroundings.
There are anti-war demonstrators, a murder crime scene and just regular people going about their lives. In addition, I felt a, “Cinema Verite” (real cinema) feel in Cleo’s strolls through the streets of Paris.
Cleo is played by Corinne Marchand in an exquisite performance that allows the camera to dwell and probe into her emotions.
A one and a half hour exercise in the streets and buildings of Paris may not seem like compelling drama, but in the hands of Varda and Marchand, it is not only compelling but also cinema at its finest.
1001 Movies before you die 