Cléo from 5 to 7

Too many things to say, not enough time to write it all out. I was incredibly captivated by this film as a teenager, and I don’t think I was ever really able to put my finger on exactly why. After a rewatch, I think I see why. 

Agnes Varda weaves together strains of psychoanalysis, feminist theory, and film studies in ways that feel both unprecedented and unreplicated. Frances Ha might be the closest modern derivative. But compared to this film, Gerwig's work reads as a surface-level account of the patriarchy’s pressures and distortions. Cleo from 5 to 7 still maintains the “modern woman wandering across the city” premise. Yet, it takes it much further and descends into questions about how the male gaze can literally structure the psychological makeup of an entire society and become reinforced through consumer culture, healthcare systems, and the legal apparatus. It cuts much deeper and does so in an incredibly profound and novel way.

More than deserving of 5 stars, and I feel like there is still so much I’ve left out above.