Cléo from 5 to 7

1962, Agnès Varda, France

In contrast to the ‘boys club’ reputation of the French New Wave, the work of Agnès Varda is both political and intensely personal. Cléo from 5 to 7 is her most highly-regarded film, in which Varda’s passion for finely-observed details elevates a story that other directors of the movement might have considered insignificant.

Cléo (Corrine Marchand), a Parisian singer, is awaiting the results of a biopsy. In the last few hours before she discovers her fate, she wanders through Paris, seeking both sympathy and distraction. As part of the film’s real-time conceit, we experience every moment of her wait too, from studio to park to cinema, as Cléo’s predicament inspires a sudden growth of her view of the world.

Cléo from 5 to 7 makes an unexpected pairing with Kurosawa’s Ikiru in this year’s programme: a woman’s perspective rather than a man’s, and the build-up to a diagnosis rather than the aftermath of one. Varda’s photojournalism background allows her to perfectly capture how, when time is short, every minor detail of life gains a new immediacy and vibrancy.

“Like Godard or Jerzy Skolimowski […], Varda eschews flashbacks and plunges us into the breathless present-tense unfolding of these precious ninety minutes in Cléo’s life.” – Adrian Martin, The Criterion Collection