Sightlines · reception
How Cléo from 5 to 7 was received
1962 · Agnès Varda · Cléo from 5 to 7 on Sightlines
The arc
Admired on release as a highlight of the New Wave but long filed behind the films of Godard and Truffaut, it has climbed steadily as Varda's reputation soared — by the 2022 Sight & Sound poll it sat in the critics' top 20, now routinely called one of the movement's defining films.
What’s debated
The perennial cinephile grievance it fuels: Varda was patronized as the 'grandmother of the New Wave' while her male peers took the glory, and fans love to argue that Cléo, not Breathless, is the movement's true masterpiece.
Its footprint
The mirror-filled hat-shop browse and Corinne Marchand singing 'Sans toi' straight into the camera are endlessly screencapped touchstones, and the real-time-in-Paris structure is name-checked whenever a film unfolds 'in real time.'
Where it stands
A canon staple and a Letterboxd darling — the standard gateway into Varda and a 'you must have seen this' of the French New Wave.
Did you know? The little silent comedy Cléo watches within the film features cameos by Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina, while composer Michel Legrand appears on screen as the pianist 'Bob' — and despite the title, the film actually covers only 5:00 to about 6:30.