MovieChat Forums > Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962) Discussion > C'est tellement beau!

C'est tellement beau!

posted 14 years ago by jolypm
5 replies | jump to latest

Just saw it again last night after many, many years. So beautiful. Varda is in love with the camera and it shows. It's such a lovingly work of Art. Time makes it plus savoureux. She never lets her subject -woman who might have cancer- overrule the movie. It is always there but with finesse and tact. Corinne Marchand is beautiful and good but I think it is Antoine Bourseiller as the amoureux going to war in Algeria that creates the magic at the end of the movie. Just the finale is un tel enchantement! Bravo Madame Varda. What a difference with actual movies like, for instance, When Harry Met Sally... A long talkative dissertation of sex or not between friends... Coarse language kill all enchantment in a movie...
but who wants enchantement nowadays with Hollywood vulgar moneymakers...

[–] wildandmild 14 years ago

Yes this movie is a pure jewel! Just everything about it is magnificent.
Agnes Varda is unique and such a poet in her way of making cinema; a real artist!

[–] Errington_92 12 years ago

It is an equally enchanting and provoking film both in its themes and technical style. I was completely enthralled through out.

"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not".

[–] claudenorth 10 years ago

I found the scene in the millinery to be particularly hypnotic, with the fluid camera movements and the street scenes reflected in the mirrors transforming the shop into a wonderland. It's a film that demands multiple viewings.

[–] Charlot47 10 years ago

And yet, while Cléo half forgets the message of the tarot in the magic of hats, the camera keeps peeking across to the sign of the shop on the opposite side of the street which says “DEUIL”, meaning mourning.

[–] PoppyTransfusion 10 years ago

I think it is Antoine Bourseiller as the amoureux going to war in Algeria that creates the magic at the end of the movie

So true! We all need Antoines in our lives; such a positive and generous influence. Of course the film begins with magic, of a kind, that confirms Cleo's unhappiness and ends with another sort of magic, as you describe it, which frees her from fear and allows her to feel happy. Amazing. I've been in Paris on June 21st and it is wonderful as there was music on every street corner and church in the arrondissment where I stayed.

What a difference with actual movies like, for instance, When Harry Met Sally... A long talkative dissertation of sex or not between friends... Coarse language kill all enchantment in a movie...
but who wants enchantement nowadays with Hollywood vulgar moneymakers...

Indeed. Talk replaces the delight in seeing. The best moment of Cleo and Antoine were their faces so close to one another, in profile and framed by the bus window.

Movement ends, intent continues;
Intent ends, spirit continues