Cléo de 5 a 7

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"

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/

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.

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.