Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)

Film: Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)
Stars: Corinne Marchand, Jose Luis de Vilallonga, Dominique Davray, Antoine Bourseiller
Director: Agnes Varda
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

The death in March of film icon Agnes Varda made me take a bit of a look at my own film-watching habits, and meant that eventually I was going to need to make a confession on this blog-I've never seen an Agnes Varda film.  This felt unforgivable, and while I was on a date recently with a film buff, he picked Cleo from 5 to 7 as the movie we should stream off of Criterion, and I wholeheartedly agreed, finally getting rid of my lack of knowledge of this remarkable women's filmography, and starting with one of the earliest narrative pictures on her resumé.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie takes place from, as the title indicates, 5-7 PM, and focuses on Cleo (Marchand), a superstitious woman who has had her tarot card reading over the opening credits (the only sequence in the movie shot in color), and we learn from this that Cleo assumes the test results from her doctor will reveal she has cancer.  Cleo, a pop singer, believes the fortune teller despite others assuming she's a foolish hypochondriac, and goes throughout the rest of her afternoon as she waits for her test results alternating between euphoria and despair.  Along the way we see her interact with her lover, her maid, friends, and just sort of have the type of lazy, French afternoon that was common in the New Wave, with us seeing a politically-charged Paris in the background of a seemingly vain, silly woman.  Throughout the film we hear on the radio discussions of the war in Algeria, as well as newscasts regarding President John F. Kennedy & the Vienna Conference.  Toward the end of the film, Cleo meets Antoine (Bourseiller), a soldier who is on leave from the war in Algeria, and we get a type of anti-war speech from the young man, claiming that he's worried he's going to die for nothing in the conflict.  Antoine goes with her to talk to the doctor, whom they run into by accident after pursuing him in his office, and the doctor nonchalantly tells Cleo that she does have cancer, but that he expects her to make a full recovery.  Cleo, now content with the knowledge that her worries were right, understands that there is still time left, and seems genuinely happy for the first time in the film sitting with Antoine even though they both face uncertain futures.

The movie is not for someone who doesn't have a patience for the French New Wave.  The claims that nothing of significance happens is wrong, of course (this is true of most films), but you'll have to look below the surface to find some of the meanings of the film, and if you don't appreciate spending a languid afternoon in Paris circa 1962, you're not going to have a good time.  But the movie is gorgeously-shot, and the camerawork is interesting, with us seeing random background action in wide shots that make the film almost feel like a documentary (which of course would be one of Varda's specialities).

But the film has something to say, both about war and about women.  The movie captures the conflicted ideas of the Algerian War, which some saw as a legitimate civil war while others saw as a far past-due time for France to decolonize.  Antoine's speech toward the end of the film is moving because he finds himself in the middle, not sure if he's helping or hurting France by fighting in the war, and wondering if putting his life in danger will ultimately make any difference.  This would echo future conflicts in Vietnam and Iraq, where it was questionable whether or not the goals of any side would ultimately be achievable.

Feminism is also a major part of the conversation.  Cleo is frequently dismissed by the men in her life as silly, as someone who is too vapid to have an understanding of her own self.  She's seen as ornamental, an assumption underlined by how often she's surrounded by mirrors in the picture, and more an object than a real flesh-and-blood person.  Varda sides with Cleo, though, in the end, when her worries and realizations that something is wrong ultimately prove to be accurate-Cleo does, indeed, have cancer, and so the worry was about something tangible.  In this instance, we see Cleo stop caring about the people around her, finally deciding to live for herself rather than convincing others to take her seriously, but it shows that the people around her should take Cleo (and women in general) seriously as their concerns & beliefs are valid and true.  All-in-all, it's an easy film to love, even if you might not always adore Cleo (a complicated protagonist), but it stays with you because Varda has something meaningful to say about war, sexism, and mortality.