Cléo From 5 to 7
Part of the BAMcinématek series 1962: New York Film Critics Circle
Sat, Nov 7 at 6:50*, 9:15pm
*Intro by NYFCC member Dana Stevens (Slate)
Directed by Agnès Varda
With Corinne Marchand
(1962) 90min
Arguably one of the greatest French films of the 60s, Cléo follows a pop singer (Marchand) as she wanders Paris awaiting the results of a biopsy. A former photojournalist, Varda takes a cinema-verité approach as Cléo moves from being vain and childish and into a woman who takes responsibility for her own life in a final epiphany.
The Village Voice on Cléo from 5 to 7
"With this, a more mature response to Breathless (Godard and Anna Karina make cameos as silent movie actors), Varda transforms the typical French cinema gamine into a complex, tragic figure: the girl who's all too good at playing plaything, forced to face the hollowness of her youth." More
Slant on Cléo from 5 to 7
"All throughout, Varda captures the fairy-tale essence of early '60s Paris with a vivacity and richness that rivals Godard's Breathless. Unlike her New Wave compatriots, whose talents were reared in part at film schools, Varda was trained in the field of photography and consequently films the city with a completely unique vision." More