Real Time Contextualisation in Cléo de 5 à 7

REAL TIME CONTEXTUALISATION IN CLÉO DE 5 À 7

Oscar Martin, May 2019

Cléo de 5 à 7 (Agnes Varda, 1962) is unique in its dedication to chronology. Where another film would employ cutaways or flashbacks to provide context, Cléo de 5 à 7 introduces each of its characters and their respective narratives without any spatial or temporal disruptions. In maintaining this strict realism, Cléo de 5 à 7 is especially effective in its development of a sense of foreboding. A weaker director may have relied on a flashback to Cléo’s medical exam two days prior in order to establish the fragility of the singer’s existence, but Varda chooses instead to invest fully in realism, the film taking on an almost documentary-like style. As a result, the breaks in temporal rigidity are especially affective, drawing on the disconnect between clock time and subjective duration identified by Henri Bergson (Bannister 2016), and marrying Cléo’s mortality with our own.

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Bannister, M. (2016). "Nothing But Time: Bergson's Duration, Systems Theory, and Musical Creativity." Journal of Genius & Eminence 1(1): 72-78.

On Film: Cléo de 5 à 7

CLÉO DE 5 À 7 (1962)

Oscar Martin, May 2019

Agnes Varda’s 1962 film Cléo de 5 à 7 explores female identity and the stereotypes impressed upon women by male dominated mid-century society. In the two hour window of Cléo’s life presented by the film, we see a transformation from “a position of masquerade and nonidentity to subjectivity” (Mouton, 2001). The recurring imagery of mirrors and reflection highlights Cléo’s obsession with superficial beauty: her existential fear of cancer is surpassed only by her fear of loosing her beauty — “As long as I’m beautiful, I’m alive”. Varda’s film is certainly characteristic of the existentialist and especially the feminist movements of its time.

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Mouton, J. (2001). From Feminine Masquerade to Flâneuse: Agnès Varda's Cléo in the City. Cinema Journal, 40(2), 3-16.