Cléo from 5 to 7 (Cléo de 5 à 7)

France/Italy, 1962. Director Agnès Varda. 90min.

This masterpiece of the French New Wave cinema by director Agnès Varda presents a slice of life, ninety minutes in the day of a young clothes-conscious recording star. The film respects the unity of time unfolding and the everyday, but this passage of time also marks the drama of a young woman facing the outcome of a critical medical test, during which she meets someone who might change her life. In this relatively brief time Cléo has three costume changes, from the organdy dress of the opening; the negligee for the middle section in her loft where she sings her key song; then a black dress for the third section. Varda has spoken of the donning of the black dress as the transitional moment of the film, from the initial section where Cléo constantly glances into mirrors and presents herself as a spectacle for the gaze of others, to becoming an observer of the world around her. Few films so elegantly intertwine time and what we wear as this.

With Corinne Marchand, Antoine Bourseiller and Dominique Davray.
Costumes by Alyette Samazeuilh.

Past screenings

Wearing Time: Past, Present, Future, Dream – London
Friday 17 March 2017, 20:45 | The Hoxton, Holborn
Introduced by Rosemary Wallin.