FRENCH NEW WAVE

A major point of reference for the French New Wave, this has become a milestone in the history of cinema.

Cléo is a pop singer who wanders around Paris, waiting for her biopsy results, fearing she may have cancer.  She meets several friends and strangers while trying to grapple with mortality.

REVIEWS

"Not every minute is as spirited as Varda would like us to believe, but in the cinema of enchantment this ranks pretty high." - TIME OUT

"All throughout, Varda captures the fairy-tale essence of early '60s Paris with a vivacity and richness that rivals Godard's Breathless." - SLANT MAGAZINE

"Agnes Varda’s Cléo from 5 to 7, the first fully-achieved feature by the woman who would become the premiere female director of her generation, dazzled when it opened, and looks even more timely today in its tackling of the fashionable subject of female identity as a function of how women see and are seen by the world." -

MOLLY HASKELL FOR THE CRITERION COLLECTION

"The most wonderful thing about Cléo from 5 to 7 is its air of freedom, evoked, paradoxically, within the very severe constraints of its real-time format. The film is superbly playful, poking occasional holes in its own carefully built illusion of cascading moments." -

ADRIAN MARTIN FOR THE CRITERION COLLECTION

"Varda could have stopped after "Cleo From 5 to 7" with the assurance that she'd contributed more to cinema than most directors." - ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Ok, fair enough, we have found one negative review:

"Generally, Mlle. Varda is so absorbed with her camera stunts, as she is in that scene in the hat shop or when she is screening that comedy short, that the essential concentration on the heroine is neglected and the interest lost." - BOSLEY CROWTHER IN THE NEW TORK TIMES

We are slightly angry at Bosely for saying such horrible things, but we thought he could still be allowed freedom of speech.