Cléo from 5 to 7

When I think of interesting filmmakers, the world over, whose movies are always a pleasure to watch, I thank God every day for Agnès Varda. I had her '4 Films by' Criterion boxed set, seemingly forever, left unwatched, and I don't really know why. Perhaps I felt her films wouldn't excite me enough, I don't know. I certainly enjoy foreign, and French, filmmaking enough. Maybe it was because she was female, I don't know. I hope not, but I'm simply being honest. Sometimes I'm apprehensive about starting to investigate the works of a director who's different from me: Female, non-English, non-Caucasian. I think it's difficult for me to start, because I'm afraid that I won't be able to fully emphasize with their sphere of reference, and thus won'...

It's actually quite hard to write an objective review about this film. Why? Well, that is because the eponymous singer (Corinne Marchand) has a personality that offers us very little to like. She is a hypochondriac who is obsessed with the thought that she might have cancer. Desperate for a second opinion, she consults a mystic and then we follow her for the remainder of her afternoon whilst she awaits the results of medical tests. In many ways it adopts a video diary sort of format and that means there is plenty herein that isn't the least interesting. Like with most of our daily routines, there is not that much of interest going on. She meets her lover, José (José Luis de Vilallonga) an unsympathetic man well used to her behaviour and a s...