Cleo from 5 to 7 is a film about a young woman who is nervously awaiting the results of a medical test. She fears the worst, and we see her as she wanders the streets of Paris meeting friends and strangers, seeking distraction and consolation. The story is told in real time and I loved the idea of it when I heard about it. But I also loved the idea of Richard Linklater's 2014 film Boyhood—which I eagerly anticipated for years while it was in production—but found the end product to be a bit deficient. So would Cleo from 5 to 7 live up to my expectations?The film started out a bit slow in my opinion. I felt like I didn't really care enough about the lead character or what she was going through and found myself bored by several of the early scenes. But a funny thing happened as the film went on: I started to care! Halfway into the film I was totally enthralled. It was fascinating to watch her mood change from dread to acceptance and then back again as she met with different people and discussed her situation and saw different things and encountered different distractions throughout Paris.Additionally, there were several fun things that the filmmakers did with the camera and the editing that I don't recall ever having seen before. There were a few instances of jump cuts that I particularly enjoyed but there was also a very well-done scene in which Cleo is walking up the sidewalk, looking at strangers and recalling in her mind the faces of friends. It was edited very well and pleasing to the eye but also did a great job of showing Cleo's thoughts and emotions without the use of narration, which would not have been sufficient.The film feels very real, in a way. The narrative follows Cleo to the places she chooses to go, rather than following a standard cookie-cutter story. She could very easily have chosen a different path through Paris, or stayed at home, but this is where she went and that is where we follow her. And all the characters she meets feel totally unique and very much like real people. At times it feels as if we could be following a real woman through Paris, unaware that she's being filmed or followed.It reminded me a bit of Chris Marker's documentary film Le Joli Mai, which was filmed around the same locations at about the same time. That film was real, in that it was a documentary. This film feels almost as real. The acting seems excellent, but I'm not fluent in French so it may be a little harder for me to tell when the acting is bad or not. But that's what I love about foreign films: the acting always seems a little better than it probably is!I feel like this movie warrants an additional viewing for a few reasons. Firstly, I feel like I will be able to better appreciate the parts I thought were a little slow or boring during the first viewing. Either that, or I'll confirm my earlier assessment that they were in fact slow and boring and nothing can change that, though I doubt that is the case. Secondly, knowing how things end, I think I could gain some additional insight that I may have missed the first time around during the early scenes, in particular during the opening scene which involves an impactful tarot card reading.So, by the time it ended, Cleo from 5 to 7 had indeed lived up to my hopes and dreams. It wasn't exactly what I expected, but I enjoyed it very much and think that I will watch it again. I'd previously seen Vagabond, another of the director Agnès Varda's films. While I enjoyed that film, it didn't give me the same feeling that I got from Cleo from 5 to 7, which makes me want to see more of her work. Right now I get the feeling that she may end up becoming one of my favorite French filmmakers.It's not a perfect movie, but it's better than the majority of films I see, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys powerful, emotional dramas or French films in general.

This was the first movie I've seen by Agnes Varda. She is considered the "mother" of the New Wave, and characteristics of this style are shown throughout the film. I liked that we were brought into Florence's (Cleo) life and mind. I like that we are able to know what she is thinking, we are taken inside her mind. There is particular scene where she is walking down the street and the camera shifts to the street. It's as if we become her eyes and are able to see exactly what she sees. I noticed that some patrons even look at her, and thus the camera, which created a more realistic shot. It was like we were in the present time. The film portrays Cleo and the city around her. It really isn't an easy film to explain, but I do think Agnes did a wonderful job at capturing the audience and making us feel as if we were actually there with Cleo. Agnes left room for us to think about the meaning behind the film and relate it to our own lives. The film has more of a documentary feeling than a fictional narrative. Cleo (Corrine Marchand)does an excellent job in the film. I thought she was beautiful. I really like how she let us into her head, but left room for mystery. I found myself wanting to know more about her. Overall, I think this movie portrays the New Wave style in a positive light. Now I understand why Agnes Varda was appreciated by many and considered the "mother" of NV. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone who wants to see a film of the nouvelle vague.

Cleo form 5 to 7, is a poignant tale of a young singer, who must face her own possible mortality before she is ready. The film starts with Cleo visiting a fortune teller's office, where we find that, Cleo who is waiting for the results of a doctor's test, will experience a major life change soon. Unknown to Cleo, the fortune teller speaks in an aside to the audience, and predicts that Cleo has cancer. This film which runs one and a half hours, and literally spans one and a half hours, is basically a journey that Cleo takes. It is in the moment that Cleo faces her deepest fears that she realizes she has no true friends. Scared of her possible test results, instead of spending the time with friends and family, she spends it wandering around Paris, and with a soldier on leave. Neither her companion, lover, friend, or producers, can understand what she is going through. Cleo may at first choose not to burden her friends with her problems, but the longer she tours Paris the more she realizes that a true friend would be there with her, she wouldn't have to worry about annoying them with her problems, and she would know that they would always have an open ear for her. It is as she walks around a park in Paris that she meets a young soldier on leave who will be going back to fight soon. To Cleo, although it may seem as simple as pouring her problems onto a man she will never have to see again, if she so desires; she is really unconsciously choosing this stranger over all the people in her life. She may subconsciously believe that the soldier know what it is like to be scared and alone, and may believe that he will best sympathize with her problems, since he too has felt fear, as opposed to her other friends, who basically live the golden life.

Cleo from 5 to 7 is probably Agnes Varda's most well known masterpiece. As all art movies its more about the visual style than the actual plot. The plot can be summed up as the story of a famous singer who realizes that she may die of cancer. She awaits her results with a mosey sense of gloom and dread. The movie is basically following her around from 5 o clock to 7 o clock with everything she does documented for the viewer. We see a strange relationship between Cleo and her servant. Her servant is strange in that she always tries to undermine Cleo as if she is jealous of her lifestyle. I found the servant to be a bit of a sadist enjoying the pain of Cleo under the guise of friendship. Cleo eventually runs into her lively and youthful friend and hangs out with her without telling her of her illness. They eventually split ways and Cleo is again left alone to cope with her tragic future. She eventually meets a young soldier whom she initially despises, but grows fond of as she realizes that he is not interested in getting in her pants. They connect on a human basis with conversations about life. Together they learn the truth about her disease, but the soldier eventually goes off to Algeria leaving Cleo alone again. All in all Cleo from 5 to 7 is an interesting window into human emotion and the need for human interaction.