"Cleo from 5 to 7" begins with a tarot card, incorporating information such as directors and actors into the card surface, which is more creative than blunt and abrupt words. The tone of the film is black and white with sound, and only the beginning and ending pictures are in color, and the changes in color reflect the changes in the heroine's mood: hope - despair - hope. The good life in the secular concept is rich and colorful, and it is not uncommon to use the change of color to indicate the situation and temperament. Individual names have words with color such as "red" and "black", and it is a fate to eventually break up with the small group, and his own temperament is indeed as plain as water.
In order to increase the documentary beauty that the New Wave advocates, the sequence of the characters in the film is consistent with the time of the film itself. The long shot also shows the director's deep shooting skills.
In my opinion, the biggest main line of the film is the fear of human beings facing the "unknown" and "end". "Cancer" and the closely related "death" can quickly make people understand the meaning of life. My mother always said that she was very introverted, awkward, and twisted when she was a child. Later, she suffered appendicitis due to poor diet. The moment she lay on the operating table, she felt that she was about to die. After that, her personality changed and she finally became a doctor. As a family member of a doctor, I also deeply feel that hospitals and medical documentaries are good cures. Although there is a despicable feeling of "building one's own happiness on the pain of others", I smell the faint smell of disinfectant and listen to the ICU. The continuous crying at the door, watching the patients coming and going, I will sincerely thank everything I have now - "To live is to be happy".
During the two hours waiting for the final result, the heroine Cleo was anxious and worried, and the director arranged a series of events to externalize her inner emotions. The first is "superstition", where anyone who falls into the water will catch straws. When I am most flustered, it seems that metaphysics has a power to comfort people. (The Tarot in the film is quite accurate). The second is dressing up. In the hat store, we know that the heroine is a well-known singer, and her beauty is one of the sources of her self-confidence. Dressing up well is a positive hint. The thick and plush hat that Cleo chose is obviously not in line with the season, and it is also an expectation for the continuation of life.
The first climax of the film is when the composer and lyricist came to discuss the tracks of the new album, Cleo sang "Sans toi" (Without you) to the sound of the piano, borrowed the words to express the meaning, and burst into tears. "How to face the self that is on the verge of disappearing? How to face the memories and traces that remain even after disappearing?"
One of the episodes that struck me the most was Cleo's second visit to the café, where she ordered her new song on the jukebox, but no one paid attention. Walking on the street, the facial expressions of every passerby are magnified. If you want to get the attention of others, but you are afraid of strange eyes, when you care about the opinions of others, it seems that all strangers are watching you. So delicate! It's similar to how I find my presence online when I'm depressed.
A conversation about a model by a passer-by in a cafe reminded Cleo of his good friend, and the company of friendship is also one of the supports when he is fragile. She went for a drive, chatted with her friends, and watched the comedy silent film "The Fiancee on McDonald's Bridge" (also directed by Varda, with a cameo by Godard). During this time, Cleo kept laughing, but this kind of happiness of relying on others was not enough. is short-lived and superficial. She decided to be alone.
Walk into the park, avoid the crowd, and stare at somewhere. Anthony's presence isn't very unexpected, but the opening lines seem a little slick in my opinion, maybe it's a normal French romance. From the bench to the bus, the dialogue between the two gradually deepened, and some famous lines emerged. This bus travel lover really loves the scene on the bus. They chat freely with strangers, look at each other and smile, and feel the scenery by the window and the changing flow of people in the car before reaching their respective destinations. "I will accompany you for a ride, but not forever." Thinking that in Luoyang in March, I chatted with the three elders on the local bus and on the return train, which was really one of the most anticipated and impressive parts of the trip.
Although the self-comforting process is always more important than the result when we are rushing to an unattainable goal, under thousands of years of thinking of "win the king and lose the bandit", the characterization of the ending is the sound of the hammer. As far as watching a movie is concerned, the quality of the ending greatly affects my evaluation of a work.
For example, if "La La Land" is really as shown in the parallel montage at the end of the film, the male and female protagonists "marry and have children and live happily together", then with the generality of its plot and characters, it can only be reduced to a conventional romance. The tragic ending of being separated from each other has sublimated the theme of "dream is above everything", so that the heroine's look back is so moving.
Several times, Anthony and Cleo looked at each other affectionately, and a lot of head-pressing teams appeared in the barrage. Fortunately, fortunately there is no kiss, otherwise it will be vulgar - who said that despair can only be saved by love? Cinderella waits for the prince's crystal slipper, Snow White waits for the prince's kiss - women in fairy tales wait for men to save, and the ending is "to live happily together", which holds love too high, and it is like a kind of love for women. Created "spiritual opium". No one can save you except yourself. Tony's identity as a soldier in the Algerian war is no accident. His appearance is to teach the heroine a love and death education. Love, pure love, how many people yearn for it, "every great relationship is full of small hypocrisy, and every great soul is also confused"; war, cruel war, how many people sacrificed for this, "they died without a trace. Worthless, that's what disappoints me the most, I'd rather die for love." The heroine realized that the love and life she has are so precious during the exchange, it is better to face everything bravely than to worry about fear, anxiety and sadness. the rest of the time. "We have so little time that we shouldn't be spending it on stupid things." "My fear seems to disappear and I seem to be happier."
Some of the echoes in the film are also very clever. The doctor who appears at the end corresponds to the fortune-teller at the beginning. Superstition is not a certainty after all, and illness will not lead to death; Anthony's touching on the nude corresponds to Cleo's gorgeous dress, "Nude, that is, a simple state, like love, fertility, water, etc. , and the sun, the beach, everything”; the news that Edith Piaff fell into a coma on the radio corresponds to Cleo’s current state, both are singers, and they are also in the shadows of life, Edith Piaff finally passed away, and Rose’s life is gorgeous again Not much.
Overall, this is a film that is very suitable for individual taste, and it is best to watch it within five to seven hours. Keep praising Varda!
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