Varda was trying to create a connection with the art of the film (Cléo’s story) and reality (news). She does not have many decorations, but the bed, rugs, and other directions she does have seem very expensive. The city’s beauty is highlighted throughout the film. She realizes that she wants to influence the world rather than just being a pawn in other people’s’ world. The bustle of life continues all around you, suddenly alien. Her thoughts allow the viewer to better understand Cléo as a character. Works appearing on Art of the Title are the property of their respective owners. Something feels definitively off. The camera shows this by being in the top corner of the room and focusing on everything in the room. It is about the character's whole life as illustrated by two hours. With Corinne Marchand, Antoine Bourseiller, Dominique Davray, Dorothée Blanck. The photography switches to the crisp monochrome, hand-held style that is typical of French films of the period. Her clothes represent how she has developed throughout the film from self-concerned to aware of her surroundings. It would have been much harder to relate to if the character had been older or stronger. Art of the Title is made with ❤ in Toronto and is supported by readers like you. Her thoughts sound different from her regular voice as well, almost as if she is whispering to herself. Her current lover briefly visits her but their busy lives don’t allow them enough time to even kiss! Introduced in an opening sequence with a card reader that proscribes her fate, she and her maid Angèle wander the next few hours through a Paris whose temptations seem more irresistible now that a possible cancer diagnosis has foreclosed her life. This creates a very natural, real-life feel to the film. She no longer relies on the close watch of the males around her but wants to be regarded as an equal (, Varda uses shot-reverse-shots to establish dialogue among the, Her next card, the hanged man, shows suffering and change. The music adds to the mood of the scene. It is not perfect to always have someone watching and judging. Cléo commonly complains that no one takes her seriously since she's a woman, and that the men think that she's faking her illness for attention. “Thanks!” Cléo retorts with equal parts alarm and sarcasm. Though Cléo does little time checking herself, the film is structured through chapters that locate her in time, between 5 and 7. Jacquot Demy is a little boy at the end of the thirties. From the opening credits of Agnès Varda’s Cléo from 5 to 7, you know this is going to be a stylish and important film of the French New Wave, a period of Cinema history dominated by François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard. In a word, realism. In addition, there is diegetic music throughout the film. Still, she tries to look on the bright side musing, “Ugliness is a kind of death. Florence Victoire, who is better known by her stage name Cléo Victoire (as in Cleopatra), is a singer with three hit singles to her name, and as such some renown. Bubblegum pop loses its flavour very quickly. After the doctor gives her diagnosis and drives off, the camera seems to sit on the back of his car and pans away from Cléo and Antoine. It is easy to feel Cléo’s emotions because of how close you become to Cléo. Her preoccupation with death and the brevity of life becomes all the more tragic when the ephemerality of both her youthful beauty and her profession become suddenly apparent during a music rehearsal. Leaving the cinema, Cléo accidentally breaks a mirror, which she claims is a bad omen. This is especially evident when Cléo is in the café, and no one recognizes her music when she puts it on. (Cléo, film). Her room is in direct contrast with the constricting streets and cafés that Cléo visits during the course of the film. The fortuneteller, in her way, turns out to be correct. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Bob goes to the piano, and they begin to practice some of Cléo's songs. She travels throughout Paris and visits many places in a limited amount of time. The viewer is able to focus on both her beauty and the intense sadness in her eyes without being distracted by color. Marchand is at her most vivid when, after making herself up and dressing for guests, she lays in bed studying herself in a handheld mirror, the conversation drifting from the parlor. She wants to be perceived in a positive, beautiful light and alters her outward appearance to do so. Cléo’s beauty is highlighted through editing and the theme of the gaze. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Her next card, the hanged man, shows suffering and change. Varda described the film as “the portrait of a woman painted onto a documentary about Paris” (Martin). Cléo is not just looking at herself but also how others perceive her. Among the pleasures offered by Cléo from 5 to 7 is Varda’s transforming Paris itself into an unindicted co-conspirator: the city as setting and provocateur. Paris was wealthy at the time in the midst of  the Trente Glorieuses, and their clothes represented their wealth. The similarities between his death in war and Cléo’s death from cancer are prominent. She no longer feels so alone, but she has someone who actually cares about her and wants her to be happy. The added, natural sounds shed further light on what life was like in Paris at the time because the viewer even gets to hear what was going on in the city. The viewer can feel her fear. The large skirt flows as she walks and creates a anything-goes presence for Cléo. Having dropped Dorothée off at her apartment, Cléo has the taxi driver take her to Parc Montsouris. After Cléo meets Antoine, the viewer learns that her real name is Florence.