In this early Varda film, Cleo is hooked on her own reflection. She is constantly looking in mirrors, window reflections, and ensuring her well-manicured presentation is in order. But something dramatic happens in our two late afternoon hours with Cleo, during which she is waiting to hear the results of a test for stomach cancer. After a series of encounters revealing how shallow her life is, Cleo tears a perfectly coiffed wig from her head and spends the remainder of the film in an iconic parable of self-discovery. In a dramatic subjective movement of Varda’s camera, we begin to see a new Paris through Cleo’s eyes. The mirrors give way to conversations. Cleo’s mortal fear becomes a pathway to a new way of seeing and self-awareness. This is all one of cinema’s great reflections on beauty, identity, and wholeness.
—Michael Leary
- Directed by: Agnès Varda
- Produced by: Georges de Beauregard Carlo Ponti
- Written by: Agnès Varda
- Music by: Michel Legrand
- Cinematography by: Paul Bonis Alain Levent Jean Rabier
- Editing by: Pascale Laverrière Janine Verneau
- Release Date: 1962
- Running Time: 90
- Language: French
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