IMDb plot summary: Cleo, a singer and hypochondriac, becomes increasingly worried that she might have cancer while awaiting test results from her doctor.
Directed by Agnès Varda. Starring Corinne Marchand, Antoine Bourseiller, Dominique Davray, and Dorothée Blanck.
This is the kind of story that a lot of filmmakers try to tell -- a slow, musing look at someone's reaction to terrible news or, in this case, anticipation of terrible news. Some of these are great, others are just slow and meaningless. This one falls somewhere in between for me, but leaning toward greatness, and I feel like another rewatch or two might bring that out for me. The editing is particularly interesting, as it does a really phenomenal job of getting into the anxious mind of the character as she goes from activity to activity, trying to get her mind off the news she is certain is coming. There are pieces of this that I think are really beautiful (her fights with her maid, her breakdown over music, her interactions with the soldier toward the end) as well as quite a few that just don't gel with me (most notably the silent movie she watches with her friend). There's a lot to like about it overall, though, and I'm glad I saw it.
3.5 stars.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Cleo from 5 to 7 > The Whole Nine Yards
Cleo from 5 to 7 < What the Deaf Man Heard
Cleo from 5 to 7 > Frances Ha
Cleo from 5 to 7 > Cool Runnings
Cleo from 5 to 7 < Christmas in Connecticut
Cleo from 5 to 7 > Smiles of a Summer Night
Cleo from 5 to 7 < Kolya
Cleo from 5 to 7 > Battle Royale
Cleo from 5 to 7 > Last Year at Marienbad
Cleo from 5 to 7 > All That Jazz
Cleo from 5 to 7 < The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain
Final spot: #829 out of 2860.
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