Forgotten Movies: CLEO FROM FIVE TO SEVEN

From 1962

Seeing the previews for a US version of the recent French film 5-7 reminded me of this one. Five to Seven is usually considered the time lovers meet. But in the film by Agnes Varda it is the two hour period when Cleo waits for the results of a test that will tell her if she has cancer.

Cleo, a singer, spends the hours wandering the streets of Paris, teaming with the life she feels is draining away from her. She sees friends, none of whom offer her much solace. It is a new friend, a soldier on his way to Algeria, who means the most to her.  When she examines his possible fate, it gives her strength to face hers. She is able to see life in a more clear-headed and less self-obsessed way now.

Wonderful movie and so is the recent documentary about Varda, THE BEACHES OF AGNES.