Cleo from 5 to 7

This stunning and spirited breakthrough film from Agnès Varda, the primary female director of the French New Wave, is a real-time portrait of a young pop singer (Corinne Marchand) set adrift in Paris as she awaits the potentially life-changing results of a medical test.  A moving, mysterious and lyrical chronicle of the minutes of one woman’s life as she faces her own mortality, Cléo from 5 to 7 is a strikingly innovative mix of vivid vérité and melodrama, featuring a score by Michel Legrand (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) and cameo appearances by New Wave royalty Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.  Eloquently realized by photographer-turned-filmmaker Varda, this key work of the French New Wave also serves as an unforgettable snapshot of Paris in the sixties. (Dir. by Agnès Varda, 1962, France, in French with English subtitles, 90 mins., Not Rated)