Cleo from 5 to 7: a life lesson

Iconic film of the Nouvelle Vague, Cleo from 5 to 7 is director Agnès Varda‘s second feature film. 50 years since its release, the film has retained its full force.

Cleo from 5 to 7 immerses us into a lively Paris of the early 60s. Agnès Varda films with great freedom streets, people, and her actress Corinne Marchand. The latter plays a young singer, who kills time while waiting for medical results that she suspects will be bad.

The film opens in colour with a fortune teller, before transforming into stunning black and white, when the young woman reads misfortune in the tarot cards. Convinced of her imminent death, the superstitious young woman interprets everything that she sees during those two hours (from 5 to 7), as signs of her impending death – until she meets a young soldier, who opens her eyes to the meaning of life.

The second film by Agnès Varda, one of the directors of the Nouvelle Vague, Cleo from 5 to 7 is also famous for its sequence: “Les fiancés du Pont Mac Donald“, a mini-film within the film, which features many of Agnès Varda’s friends, including Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.

Cleo from 5 to 7 is presented in digital print, restored by Ciné Tamaris and CNC French Film Archives.

B. de M.

The film will be screened in the Salle du Soixantième, on Wednesday 23rd May at 17:00.