Rating: 
Summary: Cleo is an incredible movie!!
Review: I wholeheartedly agree with the previous review. "Cleo" is as close to a perfect movie as they come. The story is simple enough, a beautiful singer facing possible death and how, within a time frame of 2 hours, she reviews her life and realizes the shallowness of her existence. Her life slowly changes when she begins looking at life through her own eyes and not through the eyes of others. The camerawork is exquisite, following Cleo's transition into awareness..... And the soundtrack, the music, fits so well with the film... It is so perfect!
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Summary: Varda's masterpiece rivals the best of Godard or Truffaut.
Review: In my view, Agnes Varda, with the possible exception of Alain Resnais, is the most underrated French New Wave director. While not as visible a presence as either Godard, Truffaut, Chabrol or Rivette, her style was no less innovative and influential. Whereas Jules and Jim, 400 Blows, and Breathless all rank in the top 1000 on ... sales list, CLEO FROM 5 to 7 ranks #4029. Even Godard's VIVRE SA VIE ranks #3410. If you appreciate the films of Godard and Truffaut, there is no excuse for not adding Varda's masterpiece to your collection. CLEO is an absorbing character study told in real time, accompanied by a superb Michel Legrande score. Thus, I must respectfully disagree with the reviewer who, in good faith, described this film as neither "difficult" nor "intellectual." Perhaps, it is not as self-reflexive as other New Wave films, but its visual poetry is equally challenging. Likewise, I think CLEO is very different in tone from Demy's LOLA or LES BONNES FEMMES, which for me is what distguishes Varda's film from the countless other pictures made in the 60's that follow beautiful French actresses around Paris. It is serious, yet light (not in the sense of superficial), and the delicate balance the film mantains between these two tones is reflective of Varda's main virtue as a filmmaker, and what distinguishes this film from LOLA, et cetera. Varda's style is playful, without being overly inronic as I often find Godard, and warm, without falling into melodrama. Please do not mininterpret these remarks: I love all the films listed above. And yet I think CLEO FROM 5 to 7 possesses numerous virtues that make it not just another film of the French New Wave. Also, it is refreshing to hear a female voice in cinema. As as always, the Critrion transfer is superb.
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Summary: Cleo From 5 to 6.30
Review: It's a French New Wave film, and it's made by a woman. Of course then, it has to be original. The plot is simple, a woman awaits the results of a test, fearing cancer. But this one and a half hour (shown real-time) does not make a simple impression on the viewer. You can really see Cleo transforming through the film. The film is surprising, entertaining (you get Cleo singing, and you get Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina in a silent film in the film) and touching. Technically this film is brilliantly done; do esp notice the remarkable camera work. Brilliant director with excellent cast in a very good looking film from the French New Wave. And when Criterion does the transfer, you get it in all it's glory. I'll now go watch it again...
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Summary: READ THE SIGNS
Review: It's not so very often that I see a movie two evenings in a row, but I simply had to do it with French director Agnès Varda's CLEO FROM 5 TO 7. Because, unlike in today first and only degree movies, there is so much in it. Not only in the dialogs, but also in the way Agnès Varda has patiently built her movie ; just try to watch CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 while concentrating on what is behind the main action, observe the clocks that are always present and remind us Cléo's fate, look at the stores punctuating Cléo's race through the Paris of 1961. You have to literally read this movie.Cléo, an addict of all kind of superstitions, will show you the way ; for her, everything and everybody knows that she is marked by illness. With her and Angèle, her guardian, you will learn how to read the signs that are surrounding you. The first scene of the movie, in a fortune-teller's apartment, is the only scene shot in colour and, in my opinion, a lesson of cinema. Music and songs take also an important place in Agnés Varda's CLEO FROM 5 TO 7. Michel Legrand, the future composer of THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG and LES DEMOISELLES OF ROCHEFORT, plays the role of Cléo's friend and composer and delivers a superb performance. Corinne Marchand has the beauty of a French depressed Marilyn Monroe and her encounter with a returning soldier is a moment of pure freshness. Excellent sound and images for this Criterion release but,alas, no extra-features except for english subtitles. A DVD for your library.
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Summary: One of my favorites of all time.
Review: It's odd, I know, to call a film charming when its focus is about a woman's two hours of waiting before finding out if she has cancer. But "Cleo" isn't a sad story about cancer, really. It's a charming story about how to live your life somewhere between the superficial and profound when something alarming happens. Cleo's a pop singer. She sings light ditties that get French radio play. She spends her time shopping for hats, hanging out in cafes, carrying on meaningless-if-romantic affairs with songwriters. She's beautiful. She's fashionable. On the surface, she looks like she's having a good time. And she usually is. This movie's about what she did in the two hours before receiving her prognosis from her doctor. Should she just go on and live life as if nothing's come along to trouble her? If she chooses to, how does she go about confronting her own mortality? Corinne Marchand, as Cleo, chooses both paths for her. As she wanders the streets of Paris, she plays Cleo as though she's unable to decide whether to be happy-go-lucky. Thus, the lush, beautiful film by Agnes Varda is both light and resonant, fun and meaningful. It's like an "Amelie" that will make you cry as well as laugh. Done in a style predating the French New Wave, it manages to be about how to go shopping when you may be about to die. And the Criterion release is just great.
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Summary: A Walking Image
Review: Much admired for its and experimental and technical ingenuity, Cleo from 5 to 7 is a beautiful work of a woman struggling between images of her public and private identity. I was lucky to see Agnes Varda introduce a screening of Cleo recently and she said that much of the directorial and experimental aspects of the film were made because it was cheap. This film is a fine example that tremendously powerful work can still be created under constrained circumstances. The division of the film into chapters persistently reminds the viewer that Cleo's time is soon to end like a fatal heroine in a book. Yet, her fate is more complex than that of heroines normally portrayed. First, it is never made clear that she will actually die or if she is deluding herself through superstitious beliefs. She is depicted as a beautiful and successful young woman who is being struck down at the height of her success, but she isn't fishing for sympathy exactly. What she is really fighting for is not her life, but her independence. She wants to be recognized as a complex and intelligent woman in her own right. People, primarily men, view her as talented, but stupid. This is the image she is constantly fighting against. Viewing and reviewing herself in mirrors and through the eyes of people she meets on the street. There is a dramatic split between the first half of the film and the second, where she transforms from a passive, dependent female to an active viewer examining her perception of herself. This is cleverly marked by her transformation in dress from white-clothed goddess with an elaborate wig to dark-clothed and shorthaired woman wandering the streets. Her walk in the couple hours of film is a fascinating examination of ways in which she is trying to view herself and become a participant in living rather than a dead image.
Rating: 
Summary: Paris (not Cleo) From 5 to 7
Review: Perhaps Cleo, or, indeed, Corinne Marchand, is an existentialist, because she faces the prospect of a diagnosis of cancer with remarkable equanimity. Initially it is unclear whether the diagnosis is to be made my a medical doctor or by a tarot reader. In any case the potential illness prompts Corinne to indulge in recurrent journeys around Paris in automobiles, most notably a Citroen DS, and this provides for some marvellous footage. She also regales us with some banal but amusing popular songs. The minor characters, too, keep the laughs bubbling, not least the alleged love interest who is relentlessly earnest (could he be developing cancer too?) and irremediably short of stature. Agnes Varga certainly knows her art, but it is doubtful whether she intended to dutifully explore the emotions inherent in the premiss of film. This is a stylish and knowing entertainment, not some harrowing meditation on death and disease - enjoy with a bowl of bouillabaisse, a baguette, and a glass of semillion.
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Summary: Unusual film
Review: Picked this up after reading the reviews here. A slow moving but very engaging movie. The camera work as some have noted is unusual and works well in this film. Great use of reflections. I was reminded at times of the artwork of Estes. The transformation of this woman is slow, believable, and gripping.
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Summary: Cinematic Triumph -- Visually and Narritively
Review: The basic story of Cleo From 5 to 7 has been stated by other reviewers. In brief, it chronicles two hours in the life of Cleo, a singer, as she waits for the results of tests that will diagnose her stomach ailment. Starting with the brief Tarot Card reading (in color) -- spoiler alert -- the prediction that Cleo faces death, the film reverts to black and white. But what a masterpiece of black and white photography! The adventures of Cleo during the two hours (real time and cinematic time) of waiting reveal the gradual peeling away of her narcissism. Another alert reviewer spoke about "reading" this film. He gave as an example the time on the clocks every time Cleo walks by one. An even more subtle and more telling example of how the visual images express the plot development and the transformation of the main character is in the reflections seen in windows and mirrors. During her more narcissistic moments at the beginning of the film we note that every time Cleo walks by a window we see her reflection, and she often notices it as well. As the film progresses the reflections in windows and mirrors gradually diminishes. By the end of the film there are no more windows and mirrors and Cleo is just her human self -- without the added narcissistic reflections. In the last twenty minutes or so of the film Cleo has what approximates an unpretentious reloationship with an ordinary fellow, a soldier on leave who is about to return to his unit to fight in Algeria. He agrees to accompany her to the hospital where she is about to get her test results. When they arrive the doctor is not there. In resignation they walk out only to encounter the doctor leaving in his car. He coldly and abruptly announces that indeed Cleo has a bad diagnosis and that treatment will be starting shortly. Cleo takes this news with surprising serenity, in keeping with the transformation from her narcissistic and hysteroid personality at the beginning of the story to the more mature person she has been shown to have become. The soldier says to her that he wishes he could be there for her during the treatment. She replies that he is with her now. Cleo, during those two hours, has learned that the only thing she has is the present. If this sounds like a "downer" in my description, please let me assure you that this is a very affirmative film. And as I mentioned earlier, it is a masterpiece example of how subtle visual clues advance the story and its underlying theme. Varda is an outstanding director. A note on the DVD itself. This transfer is in keeping with the usual high standard found on Criterion DVD's. I wish all DVD's were released with the same loving attention to detail, both in picture and sound, that is par for the course with Criterion. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Cinematic Triumph -- Visually and Narritively
Review: The basic story of Cleo From 5 to 7 has been stated by other reviewers. In brief, it chronicles two hours in the life of Cleo, a singer, as she waits for the results of tests that will diagnose her stomach ailment. Starting with the brief Tarot Card reading (in color) -- spoiler alert -- the prediction that Cleo faces death, the film reverts to black and white. But what a masterpiece of black and white photography! The adventures of Cleo during the two hours (real time and cinematic time) of waiting reveal the gradual peeling away of her narcissism. Another alert reviewer spoke about "reading" this film. He gave as an example the time on the clocks every time Cleo walks by one. An even more subtle and more telling example of how the visual images express the plot development and the transformation of the main character is in the reflections seen in windows and mirrors. During her more narcissistic moments at the beginning of the film we note that every time Cleo walks by a window we see her reflection, and she often notices it as well. As the film progresses the reflections in windows and mirrors gradually diminishes. By the end of the film there are no more windows and mirrors and Cleo is just her human self -- without the added narcissistic reflections. In the last twenty minutes or so of the film Cleo has what approximates an unpretentious reloationship with an ordinary fellow, a soldier on leave who is about to return to his unit to fight in Algeria. He agrees to accompany her to the hospital where she is about to get her test results. When they arrive the doctor is not there. In resignation they walk out only to encounter the doctor leaving in his car. He coldly and abruptly announces that indeed Cleo has a bad diagnosis and that treatment will be starting shortly. Cleo takes this news with surprising serenity, in keeping with the transformation from her narcissistic and hysteroid personality at the beginning of the story to the more mature person she has been shown to have become. The soldier says to her that he wishes he could be there for her during the treatment. She replies that he is with her now. Cleo, during those two hours, has learned that the only thing she has is the present. If this sounds like a "downer" in my description, please let me assure you that this is a very affirmative film. And as I mentioned earlier, it is a masterpiece example of how subtle visual clues advance the story and its underlying theme. Varda is an outstanding director. A note on the DVD itself. This transfer is in keeping with the usual high standard found on Criterion DVD's. I wish all DVD's were released with the same loving attention to detail, both in picture and sound, that is par for the course with Criterion. Highly recommended.
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