Directed by: Agnes Varda | Starring: Corinne Matchand | Language: French | Genre: Drama | Country : France | Year : 1962
A French film directed by Agnes Varda, starring Corinne Marchand in the lead role as Florence “Cleo” Victoire. What will you feel when a film starts with a top-angle shot of a tarot card in the color and the very next shot in the black-white? You’ll definitely get interested, that’s how I felt when I started to watch this film.
Cleo an upcoming pop singer meets a tarot card reader asking about her future. The reader predicts illness for Cleo. In reality that evening Cleo is expecting a call from his doctor, who is going to give her medical results. The rest of the film is her wait for the result.
As you would have guessed from the film title, the story happens from 5 PM to 7 PM. Well nothing comic or action happens in that period, if it is so it could have been ended as a regular conventional movie. The film goes on to portray the fear of Cleo, how she is preparing herself for the test result as she fears cancer. She meets various people who influence her in good and bad ways. Some let her down and few gives hope.
From the initial scenes of the tarot card reader, she goes to a coffee shop with her maid Angela, and then to her home, there she meets her lover, along with her musician and song writer. She feels no one cares about her illness and everyone has their own chores to do. Exhausted by the people around her, she starts to roam around Paris. Meeting one of her model friend, Dorothee, who sympathizes with her, but couldn't be with her. As the hour closes she meets a soldier in the park. The both travel to the hospital for the result.
The movie is separated into chapters of 10 – 15 mins. We see Cleo (Corinne Marchand) in every frame. The camera follows her all the way. Thankfully as every Paris-based film, we don’t see the Eiffel Tower. Every frame in the film is a picture perfect shot. The camera doesn't shy away when it covers the wide city landscapes.
For long time I was waiting for this kind of film. This film doesn't have start-buildup-climax. It is just shows two hours in one’s life. Simple.
Trailer
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