I don’t like reading reviews. It bothers me to know the story beforehand. It’s rather like sending birthday cards ahead of time……….The heroine of the movie I’m reviewing—Cleo—doesn’t like reading reviews either. Since this exquisite beauty won’t be reading my review, I’m writing with that comfort in mind.
Looking at you,
it seems like you’re waiting not for someone,
but for something.
Some test results.
Oh! Are you a student?
No. I’ve had some medical tests done.
Are you worried about it?
Yes, very much so.
What are you afraid of?
I think I have cancer. I’ll know for certain this evening.
It could be something else.
A fortune-teller told me
I have cancer.
You believe in such things?
I believe in everything,
fear everything. Birds,
storms, elevators, needles. And now I fear death. I’m terribly afraid.
Living in Algeria means
you must always live in fear.
How terrible!
We’re dying. For no reason at all. It’s awful to think about. Better to die for loving a woman than to die so meaninglessly.
Cleo from 5 to 7, from 1962. This ninety-minute film tells the story of two hours in the life of the singer Cleo. Cleo is a beautiful singer. Young, enchanted by her own fame and beauty. She’s selfish, arrogant. She believes in superstitions, loves to think and hear good things about herself. She’s had a biopsy done, at five in the evening. She must wait two hours for the results. She goes to a fortune-teller. The fortune-teller says something like death awaits Cleo, though it might mean the death of Cleo’s current state—a journey toward transformation. Hearing the fortune-teller’s words, Cleo begins to cry. How she spends those two hours with tremendous fear and restlessness—this is what the film is about. The psychology and behavior of a modestly famous beautiful singer living with tremendous tension and anxiety in her head is shown in the movie. The quarrel of kittens in Cleo’s apartment, a child playing a small piano on the street, a lovers’ quarrel in a café. None of these things touch Cleo. Her thoughts and concerns all revolve around what the test results will be. During this time, Cleo goes to a hat shop. She tries on hats of various designs and looks in the mirror to see how she appears in each one. Essentially, through this scene, director Agnes Varda has shown the various personas of the singer Cleo. What things women do to forget their anxieties! The attempt to hide oneself even from one’s own mind! Some cook, some listen to music, some watch movies, some go traveling, some talk on the phone, some do Facebook, some eat nonstop, some stand before mirrors at home in various outfits, some apply makeup. The thing is, escaping from the person you are at that very moment and seeking refuge in someone else. The story’s heroine keeps changing hats and thinking, how beautiful I look! Any hat suits me well! Interestingly, in this film the director has presented the character of Cleo in such a way that while watching the cinema we become absorbed in her thoughts and actions, begin to feel drawn to her psychology, where her superstitions or her beautiful woman’s affectations find no favor in our minds. In that scene, Agnes Varda’s camera cleverly captures the world around Cleo. Through the window curtains, some soldiers can be seen marching past—a harbinger of the Algerian War. Some hats don’t suit Cleo; they look quite awful on her head. Cleo doesn’t like them either. Before putting on a hat, it’s impossible to know how it will look when worn. Cleo’s fate too holds something that, once known, Cleo won’t be able to accept easily. Incidentally, in the background, Cleo’s assistant woman sits sadly, just as we sit during the final scene.
From the beginning of the cinema, we enter Cleo’s world guided by the director’s hand. Cleo is a woman whom no one around her understands. She’s beautiful, modestly famous, self-absorbed. Her thoughts are like those of any other beautiful woman—shallow, immature. Everyone pays attention to her, and she wants that too, but no one truly understands her in her own way. Her colleagues don’t worry about her illness; they’re only concerned about how the new song will be, how Cleo will sing it, such things. Though her lover shows much sympathy on his face, he doesn’t actually think much about Cleo’s life, as becomes clear from watching the film. Cleo understands this too, but she doesn’t say anything because she needs a companion for her loneliness. Her best friend does like her, but she too is busy with her own work and life. No one shows any interest in Cleo’s mental state or illness. This isn’t indifference; this is reality. Why should anyone feel compelled to worry about whether Cleo will live or die? Does she feel such compulsion for anyone else? In this situation, during those two hours, Cleo meets a soldier in the park. His name is Antoine. He shows interest in Cleo, tries to cheer her up and dispel all her anxieties, and even after learning the test results, he genuinely gives Cleo his time. It’s natural that Cleo would fall in love with someone so caring. And she does. Let’s hear from Cleo’s own mouth: I think I’m not afraid anymore. I’m happy now.
Life is short and uncertain too. Therefore, every feeling in life is important. Spending beautiful time with loved ones, with friends, with colleagues, and with oneself—this is life. The meaning of living is spending time. During this time we can travel somewhere new, make friends with someone new, try doing something new, or even fall in love with someone new. There’s no right or wrong in life; rather than dying with the regret “I couldn’t try doing that particular thing,” it’s better to fulfill one’s desires within one’s means. Who can say when time will run out! As if having only two hours of life left, it’s enjoyable to watch how an ordinary, intelligent Cleo spends her time with constant thoughts of death in her head. The fear of an accident keeps us more tense than the accident itself. How much death-anxiety can keep even a modern and sophisticated girl like Cleo terrified, keeping her on the path of self-examination—we see this, and her helplessness touches us too. Cleo’s journey is also wonderful. In the first scene we see Cleo at a fortune-teller’s house, a young woman eager to know her fate. In the final scene, Cleo is a woman willing and able to accept her destiny and move forward. This mental transformation of hers has happened through a catastrophe more powerful than all her pride, confidence, selfishness, and fame. Catastrophe transforms people into other people.
At the end, it’s very satisfying to see Cleo’s transformation. The soldier Antoine has shown Cleo, for the first time in her life, how to accept destiny and enjoy life. His behavior toward Cleo was like that from the beginning—the way a gentleman should behave toward a lady. When they were walking through the park or during the bus journey, listening to his words, it was as if it dawned on Cleo: ‘Whatever comes in life, learn to accept it easily.’ By then, Cleo has become a calm, responsible, complete woman. Later, when Cleo learned that the fortune-teller was right, that she has cancer and will need two months of chemotherapy, all her self-importance and self-absorption fade away; she transforms from a childish person to a human being; her true self emerges! We come to believe that the persona we had been seeing all along was actually just a reflection of how a person behaves under great stress and tension—there’s no fault or flaw in Cleo; Cleo is simply a victim of circumstances. Well, what brought Cleo and Antoine together? Illness or the thought of illness isolates people. In her moment of mental crisis, Cleo needed someone who would stay by her side and listen to all her troubles, in whom she could find her place of trust—was Antoine such a person? Or did what brought them together was………if Cleo’s cancer is detected, she won’t live much longer, and on the other hand, the soldier Antoine too could lose his life in war at any time—such uncertainty in both their lives?
If you sit down to watch the movie at 5 PM, it should end at 7 PM, but it ends half an hour earlier. The question is, where’s the justice to the movie’s title? To find out, watch the movie—you’ll enjoy discovering the answer.