Chichester Cinema at New Park
Cleo from 5 to 7
Cléo de 5 à 7
Agnès Varda’s second feature remains a highlight of the extraordinary outpouring of French movies in the early 60’s and is the equal of Godard, Truffaut etc.
We follow a pop singer around the streets and parks of Paris as she whiles away two hours awaiting the results of some medical tests. In a striking opening sequence she visits a back-street fortune teller for a Tarot reading – and the omens aren’t good. From then on the film unfolds more or less in real time, taking us through the streets of Paris as a beautiful summer’s evening begins.
This subtle, innovative character study also succeeds brilliantly as a stylish, vivid documentary-style portrait of a wondrously vibrant city. Snatches of conversation and recordings of contemporary news broadcasts mingle with shots of street entertainers, café intellectuals and some ‘Parisiens ordinaires’ clearly a bit bemused at having a camera turned on them. As an exercise in creating cinematic atmosphere it is superb - you can almost smell the Gauloise fumes and the hot tarmac. Starring Corinne Marchand, Antoine Bourseiller. New 35mm print (subtitles).
France · 
Italy · 1961 · Agnes Varda · 90min
