Cleo from 5 to 7 [Cléo de 5 à 7] **** (1962, Corinne Marchand, Antoine Bourseiller, Dominique Davray, Dorothée Blanck, José-Luis Villalonga) – Classic Movie Review 4308

One of the key French New Wave (Nouvelle Vague) movies of the early Sixties, writer-director Agnés Varda’s essential 1962 film drama Cleo from 5 to 7 1962 [Cléo de 5 à 7] – or portrait of a city and its characters – is still vibrantly fresh and lively.

Corinne Marchand stars as a hypochondriac pop singer called Cléo who one day progresses through cinematographer Jean Rabier’s strikingly, trendily photographed Paris in black and white (with some colour) from 5 o’clock, while fearfully imagining that her doctor’s medical test results are going to show her that she has cancer.

Important Sixties French cinema folk such as Michel Legrand (the composer of its score), Jean-Luc Godard, Anna Karina, Jean-Claude Brialy and Eddie Constantine appear, the last four in uncredited cameo appearances in an indulgent spoof silent film within the film, as seen by Cléo and her friend. Also in the cast are Antoine Bourseiller, Dominique Davray, Dorothée Blanck, and José-Luis Villalonga.

Now it all looks like it could be a sketch for a Woody Allen movie.

The 90-minute film runs in real time, starting at 5 and therefore ending at 6.30.

Agnès Varda is known for Faces Places (2017), The Beaches of Agnès (2008), The Gleaners & I (2000), Vagabond (1985), Le Bonheur (1965) and Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962).

Agnès Varda, the French New Wave director and film-making icon behind such films as Cleo from 5 to 7 and Vagabond, died of breast cancer at her home in Paris on 29 March 2019, aged 90. She was married to Jacques Demy. She was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature for Faces Places (2017), at 89 the oldest person nominated for any competitive Oscar.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4308

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Agnès Varda (1928–2019).