Cléo de 5 à 7 / Cleo from 5 to 7

Agnès Varda: Cléo de 5 à 7 / Cleo from 5 to 7 (FR/IT 1962).

Cléo viidestä seitsemään / Cléo från fem till sju.
    FR/IT 1961. Year of release: 1962. PC: Rome-Paris Films. P: Carlo Ponti, Georges de Beauregard.
    D+SC: Agnès Varda. DP: Jean Rabier – Gevaert or Eastmancolor, prologue in colour, then b&w – 1,66. AD: Bernard Evein. M: Michel Legrand. Songs: Michel Legrand (m.), Agnès Varda (lyr.).
    Starring: Corinne Marchand (Cléo), Dorothée Blank (Dorothée), Antoine Bourseiller (Antoine), Michel Legrand (Bob), Dominique Davray (Angèle), José-Luis de Villalonga (lover), Jean-Luc Godard, Anna Karina, Eddie Constantine, Sami Frey, Danielle Delorme, Yves Robert, Jean-Claude Brialy, Alan Scott.
    90 min.
    A vintage print with beautiful definition with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Aito Mäkinen / Maya Vanni viewed at Orion, Helsinki 28 Sep 2005.

This Nouvelle Vague film has lost none of its charm and vitality of experimentation. A few hours in the life of a popular singer who is expecting the verdict of a doctor as she is suspecting cancer. The film is packed with vibrancy, and a sense of Paris. The Tarot cards predict death, and Cléopatra experiences everything with an extra charge of premonition. The film is divided into 12 chapters. Cléo meets many important people in her life, including her maid, her lover, her composer (Michel Legrand funny as himself!), her girlfriend. The silent comedy pastiche features Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina. Otherwise it's a brilliant showcase of Varda's fine documentary instinct. As for Jean Rabier's cinematography, I have never seen anything more beautiful than this. The story comes to an end in the park as Cléo meets a soldier of the Algerian war on the leave, and together they learn that the doctor's verdict is not that bad.