Rating: 
Summary: Poetry meets anti-studio system guerrilla New Wave
Review: "Cleo from 5 to 7" was shot mostly on the streets of Paris where our beautiful heroine, a rather shallow singer and model, roams after she's taken a hypochondriac's test to see if she has cancer. Floating on the mood of doubt she has accumulated (which won't be allayed until the test results come in), she sees things with new eyes, becomes deeper and less superficial, and eventually meets up with a chance stranger who gently goads her into a new type of romance. Varda's film isn't exactly "eccentric," "difficult" or "intellectual" as some New Wave films are, but then it's nowhere near trite or simplistic either. Above all, it's just an amazingly beautiful and poetic film, and, of course, very romantic in a patented French way. Varda being a woman, it follows logically that the so-called 'women's angle' is well represented, yet for all that, if you didn't know Varda was female, you'd probably never guess it from watching her film. It's very close in tone to her husband Jacues Demy's "Lola," early Truffaut and Chabrol's 1960 masterpiece "Les Bonnes Femmes," which also deals with women's problems, and which hardly anyone has seen since it's criminally never been released on video.
Rating:
Summary: My #3 favorite film
Review: and I've seen a lot of them.
Rating:
Summary: Cleo's afternoon worries; a genuine cinematic experience...
Review: Cleo (Corinne Marchand), a successful singer, fears the result of a biopsy as she is anxiously anticipating the results of her test. While waiting, Cleo has a fortuneteller read her cards, which predict death. This leads Cleo to expect that she will die from cancer. The film depicts Cleo's two hour long wait for the results of the biopsy as she is restlessly searching for a meaning. As she searches she discovers our own self-importance and insignificance in the world. Agnès Varda directs a superb vision of Cleo's wait and pursuit, which is in the true spirit of French New Wave. An example of the realism of French New Wave is the opening scene, shot in color that fades into black and white, which visually enhances the psychological undertones of the film's theme. Another example is the crude camera work that becomes apparent as the camera pans and moves with Cleo elevating the cinematic experience to a genuine event. It is this genuine feel that makes this cinematic experience amazing and it leaves the audience with something to ponder.
Rating:
Summary: Cleo's afternoon worries; a genuine cinematic experience...
Review: Cleo (Corinne Marchand), a successful singer, fears the result of a biopsy as she is anxiously anticipating the results of her test. While waiting, Cleo has a fortuneteller read her cards, which predict death. This leads Cleo to expect that she will die from cancer. The film depicts Cleo's two hour long wait for the results of the biopsy as she is restlessly searching for a meaning. As she searches she discovers our own self-importance and insignificance in the world. Agnès Varda directs a superb vision of Cleo's wait and pursuit, which is in the true spirit of French New Wave. An example of the realism of French New Wave is the opening scene, shot in color that fades into black and white, which visually enhances the psychological undertones of the film's theme. Another example is the crude camera work that becomes apparent as the camera pans and moves with Cleo elevating the cinematic experience to a genuine event. It is this genuine feel that makes this cinematic experience amazing and it leaves the audience with something to ponder.
Rating: 
Summary: slow and somewhat superficial, good cinematography
Review: Cleo from 5 - 7 is a 1962 B&W French movie about a Singer (Cleo) who is going through a crisis as she awaits the test results. She fears the worst, that she has cancer and a short time to live. I found the pace of the film to be slow, and kept wishing for deeper character development. I came away from the movie thinking that the concept was interesting, but that I never really got a strong feeling of what Cleo was going through -- she seemed overly superficial, as did her relationships with her friends and lover. I was expecting more dialog with more depth between her and her friends -- didn't find it. The B&W filming was good, interesting scenes. English subtitles were occasionally (just a few times) difficult to read (white against B&W). Overall, not a movie that I would necessarily recommend to my movie watching friends. Keep your eyes out for the release of the B&W French film "Girl on the Bridge" which recently ran through US theatres -- an excellent film...
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest movies ever made
Review: Cleo from 5 to 7 is a masterpiece of the human soul. She is a beautiful singer that faces a possible death from cancer. In the beginning of the film, she is very childlike and really has no idea what her life is about. Within a span of 2 hours, she takes a look inside herself, and begins to realize who her friends really are, and that she must live her life according to herself, not through others. Her character transition is a touching story, that truely can inspire us all! The camera work of this film is absolutely incredible, with much movement, and use of reflections and lighting. An absolute masterpiece that every single person on Earth can take something away from. A must see!
Rating:
Summary: Breezy Left Bank
Review: CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 is one rare gem. The film was made during the French New Wave and when we think of this period of revolutionary filmmaking, we think of the two most famous examples - THE 400 BLOWS (Francois Truffaut) and BREATHLESS (Jean-Luc Godard). While those two films are fantastic, CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 is much superior and it's a tragedy that this lovely film is not considered as a classic, at least of the French New Wave. I wonder if it's because of the fact that the director is female. Agnes Varda was the only female French director working during the French New Wave and she was completely ignored.
We simply walk with Cleo throughout Paris's Left Bank - cafes, shops, art studios, cinemas, parks - during the two hours of her life, waiting for test results from her doctor to see if she has cancer ...Cleo slowly discovers herself - self-awakening - as she takes the stroll throughout the breezy Left Bank. And eventually into your heart. Whether Agnes Varda is a woman or not, CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 is the ultimate masterpiece of the French New Wave...period.
Rating: 
Summary: glamour, selfishness, beauty, and hats.
Review: cleo from five to seven is for anyone who watched breakfast at tiffany's and wanted audrey's glamour. watch this and you'll want cleo's style, her immaturity, her selfishness, her beauty and her most importantly her funky bedroom. you'll wnat to be in france, you'll want to be cleo, or if you're a boy you'll definitely want to bonk her.
Rating:
Summary: The story of a concentrated mind.
Review: Cleo, a singer, played by Corinne Marchand, has stomach pains and is awaiting the results of hospital tests for which she has a seven o'clock appointment. When, at five o'clock she is told by a fortune-teller that she has only a short time left to live, it seems like a confirmation of her worst fears; that she must have cancer. Fully convinced she has received a death sentence, she spends the next two hours in a cloud of fear and depression. But, as Dostoevsky said when he too faced a death sentence; the imminence of death concentrates the mind wonderfully. A quite amazing amount of incident is packed into the next two hours. We stay with her through every minute in real time as, with a heightened sense of awareness, she visits friends, walks and drives around the bustling streets of Paris, and sits in some of the famous left-bank cafes listening to fragments of conversation about painting, politics and philosophy to which at any other time she would have paid no attention. Everything reminds her of the short time she may have left to live. And to add to her woes she has an uncaring lover she can't confide in. "I listen to his troubles." she says, "but he won't listen to mine. If I died tomorrow he'd be surprised but he wouldn't care. He's an egotist." The way she discards her ridiculous wig and changes into an elegant black dress before walking out for the first time alone, is intended to convey a change of attitude and persona brought on by her fear that death is near. Up to that point she had been just another frivolous pop-star without a serious thought in her head and under the dominion of her minder/manager. Now she is transformed into a confident, independent woman able to see the world through her own eyes. While walking in the park with only twenty minutes to go, she gets into conversation with Antoine, a soldier on leave, played by Antoine Bourseiller. He is funny, sensitive and articulate and they quickly build up a rapport. He is a great comfort to her. When she unburdens herself to him, he says that as they are both going in the same direction he will go with her to the hospital. The film is extremely realistic. I'm sure no extras were employed. All the conversations she overhears in the crowded cafes were, I think, real conversations between real people, unaware that they were being filmed. The same seems true of the outdoor scenes, though I must say I was made to wonder about the extraordinarily handsome bus conductor - possibly the only unrealistic touch in the whole film.
Rating:
Summary: Cinematic Tour de Force
Review: Even if French New Wave Cinema of the 1950's and 1960's is of no interest to you, don't be put off seeing this incredible film. If you do have an interest in films from this period and you haven't yet seen "Cleo" then make a promise to yourself to see this film now. Director Agnes Varda made a movie back in 1960-61 that rises above language, time, place and fashion to be a masterpiece in world cinema. In some respects this is a neglected masterpiece as it is seldom spoken in the same breath as films like "400 Blows", but that makes the pleasure of discovering it all the more sweet. Amongst the highlights - a gorgeous and clever score by Michel Legrand who makes a wonderful appearance as "Bob, the Pianist"; astonishing camerawork throughout - innumerable sequences that make you wonder "how did they do that?". Varda is such an assured filmmaker that she can turn what at first appear to be momentary lapses of energy and inspiration into ever more revealing and moving climaxes. One of the great movies. You won't regret spending a summer evening in Paris with Cleo.
|
