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Cléo de 5 à 7
Cleo from 5 to 7
France/Italy 1962
produced by Georges de Beauregard, Carlo Ponti for Rome Paris Films, Ciné Tamaris
directed by Agnès Varda
starring Corinne Marchand, Antoine Bourseiller, Dominique Davray, Dorothée Blank, Michel Legrand, José Luis de Villalonga, Loye Payen, Renée Duchateau, Lucienne Marchand, Serge Korber, Robert Postec, Raymond Cauchetier, Jean-Luc Godard, Anna Karina, Eddie Constantine, Jean-Claude Brialy, Jean Champion, Georges de Beauregard, Danièle Delorme, Fernande Engler, Sami Frey, Yves Robert, Alan Scott, Jean-Pierre Taste, Arthur Brunet
written by Agnès Varda, music by Michel Legrand
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
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One and a half hours (real time equals reel time) in the life of pop
singer Cléo (Corinne Marchand): It all starts at a clairvoyant (Loye
Payen) who tells her of a grave illness, which only confirms her fears
that she has cancer - for which she has been tested, but she's afraid to
get the results. In the meantime, she annoys everyone with what is soon
revealed to be nothing more than hypochondria, including her maid
(Dominique Davray), her musicians/composers (Michel Legrand, serge
Korber), and her nude model friend (Dorothée Blank), but since nobody is
taking her too seriously anymore, nobody can offer any real relief. Eventually,
Cléo runs away on her own, and in a park, she, the born pessimist who has
a bright future ahead, meets Antoine (Antoine Bourseiller), a soldier who
can't hep being an optimist even though he will be sent to Algeria the
very next day. Against all odds, the two get along very well, and he gets
her to face her fears, go to the hospital better now than ever, and get
her results (something she has always shied away from) to know about her
condition for certain. At the hospital, the doctor confirms that she is
indeed sufering from something, but nothing a little treatment can't cure
- and thanks to Antoine, she has shed all her fears ... Jean-Luc Godard,
Anna Karina and Eddie Constantine all appear in a silent
film-within-the-film. Even if my synopsis might suggest it,
this is no movie about big affairs, just trivial things like going to a
café, talking to people, buying a hat and whatnot. It's just the context
(Cléo waiting for her test results) that gives these things an extra
dimension and holds them together narratively. Add to that a hip
directorial effort by Agnès Varda, and you get a very nice piece of
Nouvelle Vague cinema.
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