User reviews

You had it all, but now the world is caving in, it's like a wallop from a boxer on the chin, nobody cares, they can't perceive, of the news you've just received, but you must wait for confirmation, in tailspin. So you walk around the streets with your sights guarded, in a world that's so intense, you feel bombarded, but it should come as no surprise, as others open up your eyes, that those fears and trepidations, can be discarded.

Florence 'Cléo' Victoire goes through the mill, as any of us would, coming to terms with the news that she may have a serious illness at such a young age, and finding out, in a relatively short period of time, that the sky will not fall down, and that there are those always willing to help out.

Beautifully performed and superbly imagined and directed.

"Cleo from 5 to 7" tells the story of a young French singer, who fears that she may be seriously ill. What could have been maudlin "movie of the week" soap opera, is transformed by Agnes Varda into a unique movie experience.

The film contrasts Cleo's fear of death with the teeming life of the Paris streets, where street entertainers swallow live frogs and puncture their biceps; and the more normal members of the crowd busy themselves with the usual affairs of business and the heart. A large amount of the film takes place outdoors, with Cleo and the people in her life always walking, running or driving. There is a wonderful scene of Cleo-Distraught over an ominous tarot reading by the fortune teller- descending a circular staircase, her shoe heels clicking out a counterpoint to Michel Legrand's pensive music.

Sometimes just watching the way someone moves is very revealing. Director Varda has a fluid camera style which enlivens every scene. As often happens in European art films the story unfolds in a slow undramatic fashion, but their is so much going on in the image and the text, that you don't mind. Essential viewing.

As the title reveals, Cléo de 5 à 7 takes place between 5pm and 7pm. In this time, we follow a beautiful young singer, Florence 'Cléo' Victoire, as she walks the busy streets of Paris all the while awaiting a dreaded test result from her doctor.

Director Agnes Varda, nicknamed "Grandmother of the New Wave", combines fluid camera movements with sporadic 'jump cuts' to casually glide us through the streets of Paris, allowing us to delve deep into the scenery. The mobile camera provides a realistic and intimate experience.

Florence 'Cléo' Victoire begins her journey embodying a cliché. She is consumed by materialism and almost hypnotized by her own beauty. She is selfish and ignorant to her surroundings. From 5 to 7, Cléo peers deep within herself and in result experiences a kind of enlightenment. She begins to open her eyes to the outside world, observing the hectic streets of Paris, visiting old friends, and in a twist of fate meets a fascinating young soldier preparing to leave for Algeria. The soldier is a beautifully written character.

With subtext involving serious topics such as classism and more specifically impoverishment of Algerians (1954-62), one would predict that the film's message was multifaceted, and perhaps intended to serve a cause.However, after watching the film, I've come to that conclusion that Cléo de 5 à 7 is meant to be a celebration of life. The film encourages us to appreciate our blessings without the use of any clichés and without being preachy.

Cléo de 5 à 7's black and white Paris is an elegant backdrop to this moving, unique story of self-discovery. If you are a French New Wave lover or just someone who adores Paris, I'd encourage you to watch this film. It is simply stunning.

-Joanna C.T. http://addictivefilm.blogspot.com/

A film about living life in the shadow of death, about how viewing the world without sunglasses lets in the light, and shows us the truth. This beautful movie is made with surging energy and a lightness of touch by Agnes Varda, the immortal poet of French cinema. It is superbly constructed while feeling as if it were being made up as it goes along. The camera captures a Paris that in some ways has disappeared but in others is still with us and which I hope will remain forever.

Corinne Marchand is forever Cleo, a singer waiting for the result of a recent medical test. When she sings her "Sans Toi", your eyes will fill with tears; when she vamps her way down the steps in Montsouris Park, you'll smile your broadest smile. Around her, life teems -- friends, colleagues, strangers and their children, animals, trees, overheard conversations, momentary remarks -- all observed with a keen eye and endless compassion by Varda and her team.

Ten stars for this? No. A thousand. It's beyond rating. For me, this sits among the highest achievements of cinema. CLEO will live forever.

First scene (shot in color):Cleo visits the fortune-teller:ignorance,confusion.Last scene:Cleo is a responsible woman now,she's ready to cope with a not-so-rose future:enlightenment. Between the scenes ,one hour and a half (the title is a misnomer).Historically,it's not the first film whose story unfolds in real time (see Robert Wise:the set up).But the concept is here totally mastered. At the beginning of the movie,Cleo is a precious,soft ,selfish young girl.The fortune-teller epitomizes naïvete,a non-scientific attitude.And however,the lady says something important when Cleo draws a skeleton from the tarot pack:"do not panic,the arms and the legs are still covered with flesh.Your own being is about to change deeply." The fortune tells that to comfort Cleo -later she'll tell her husband "cards say "death!",and as for me I've seen cancer"-and the end would prove she was right though. After leaving the fortune-teller,Cleo meets some people ,most of them indifferent,she cannot communicate her anguish to any of them.Everybody' s busy about himself.They listen to her,but they can't hear her. Then she takes her black glasses off!It's a symbol,now she's ready to see the world as it is.She meets Antoine ,he's a soldier about to return to Algeria to fight in a dirty war.Both are afraid,both have found the comfort they needed so!Now Cleo has opened up,she can face the terrible illness."I'm not afraid anymore,she says,I think that I'm happy"

I loved this film. I wasn't expecting to, but from the very beginning you are drawn into Cleo's world. You understand a woman whom nobody understands, something that is extremely hard to do but Agnes Varda carries it off beautifully. Her coworkers don't care for her, her lover isn't really in-tune with her life, and her best friend likes her, but is busy with her own life. It isn't until she meets the someone new, someone who like herself is about to face a real danger, that she not only faces her problem, but can in a sense conquer it. It's not an easy film to explain, but it's beautifully done and a true winner. I heard that they want to remake it with Madonna. It would be nice for it to be in English, but a remake isn't necessary. They certainly got it right the first time.

To me, this is a movie about looking on the bright side of life... from the point of view of someone who isn't. We follow Cleo, a beautiful singer, through a day of her life (from 5:00 to 7:00) as she waits to find out if she has cancer. It's a very simple plot, and I think this simplicity is what allows the film to show Cleo's inner turmoil so well. This movie has strong existential undertones. In the beginning of the film, Cleo believes her fate is just that: fate. She is superstitious to the point of paranoia. Through the course of the film, she discovers that she is in control of her own life, and even in something that seems out of her control -- like cancer -- she has the freedom to decide how she will look at it and whether or not she will let it ruin her life.

Varda's Cleo from 5 to 7 was filmed in Paris at the beginning of 1960s. it's a meditative black and white account of one summer afternoon in the life of the film's main character. if you've seen Le Feu Follet by Louis Malle, you'll know what to expect, both in terms of visual style and ambiance.

there's nothing much to say about the plot, simply because the main character is the city. Paris in the 60s is portrayed with extraordinary tenderness and profundity. everything shimmers with elegance: pedestrians' outfits, cars, streets, cafes, faces, crossroads, gardens and bodies. visually enthralling.

Agnes Varda's travelogue from the early 60's follows a singer's movements in a 2 hour stretch (ala High Noon, playing out in real time) as she awaits the results of a medical exam. What we find is the empty life the singer leads as she deals w/sycophantic songwriters, unnecessary spending sprees & visits to cafes for drinks that may fill the void which is her life. Very compelling as the journey says as much about the singer as it does Paris as well as being an important New Wave film directed by a female director who is still working today.

This film is a perfect example of why I love French film. In a word, realism. In many words, the desire to capture life's most important, daring, fanciful, yet haphazard moments with the faith that by doing so you are illustrating a timeless notion. Cleo from 5 to 7 plucks a single string from a singer's life and by pulling at it, illustrates the fabric of the beautiful and unique, but predetermined world that it is woven into. What illustrates this best is the third scene of the movie when the heroine flits about a local shop browsing hats. The camera shows her shopping but also captures many reflections that expose the larger world around her. The window pane showcases soldiers marching by, foreshadowing the war in Algiers. The mirrors take snapshots of Cleo with different head-dresses all be-speaking a future she won't choose. In the background, her maid sits disapprovingly. Small details like these, that are often neglected in other movies, are the backbone of this work of art. Cleo from 5 to 7 is a movie about much more than two hours in the lead character's life. It is about the character's whole life as illustrated by two hours. Like Joyce's Uylsses, it finds parallels between the struggles of a day with the struggles of a life.

It's not like I simply love everything that is French. Au contraire! But there is no denying it that French movies from the old days often have something very special about them. Artistic, quiet, beautiful, engaging and for from boring, even though not an awful lot is always happening in it, as is also the case with this movie.

It actually is its simplicity that makes this movie. Everything is very clear about this movie; we know who the main characters is and what she is going through. It's a movie without little complications to its story and instead decides to simply follow its main character and a couple of hours of her life.

Another beautiful thing about this movie is that it's actually about a pretty heavy and serious subject. This movie could had so easily turned into something dramatic and sentimental but it instead feels like a very positive movie. It's a nice spin to the genre and it takes a real pleasant approach, that also helps to make this movie a very engaging one.

This is at least what I got from this movie. As often is the case with these sort of movies, you might get something totally different out of it. It's also obviously being filled with metaphors and symbolism, without this ever becoming too distracting by the way. But because of this storytelling approach, you might interpret things different as I did, so it really still above all things is something you have to experience for yourself.

It's a beautifully shot movie with some great camera-work at times. The movie is deliberately being kept small and simplistic, with both its story and visuals, which all was something director Agnès Varda obviously understood- and handled very well. It's a subtly done film, that perhaps requires multiple viewing to fully get everything out of it.

Nicely done genre film with a great approach to it.

8/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Like any of Agnès Varda's movies, this one displays all her talents

as a filmmaker: a strong story to contrast the 'flighty' main

character; her playfulness with form, which later became a

common technique for Godard's and Truffaut's as well as other

French New Wave filmmakers; the same playfulness in casting,

as in having the great composer Michel Legrand as Cléo's pop- song writer, or the cameo appearance of Godard, all wonderful,

unpretentious and charming moments, inter-leaved within the

worries of the narcissistic main character, Cléo. The movie is less

existential than it is about life, and Varda has masterfully

juxtaposed a range of moments and emotions and situations to

create a true classic with Cléo's day from 5 to 7.

I think it's important for every women to see this movie. Women often take the subject of misunderstanding, judged only by There looks and always expect to be perfect for others to see, moody often and confused , they're sensitive wish everyone to understand her and care about her and it's impossible for her to do anything by her own, but when that moment of enlightenment comes and the veil of delusions fly away , thay figure out that there life is to short to Care about looks or people opinions. They drag them self out of this shallow state of mind and start to believe in themselves and take the Gradual way to reach to there understand of them self and accept life as it is and live it not only for the existence of our bodys or to be self consumed but to witnes the moment and live by our mind ,heart and soul, women brave enough to fight life ,disease and death.