Post by klep on Sept 25, 2017 6:50:06 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 9/25: Cléo from 5 to 7
LADIES' WEEK!
Slice-of-life films are a great way to get a window into a way of life; to see a culture and how its members interact with each other. But it can sometimes be hard to really dig into someone's psyche that way. If all we see is how their surface interactions with other people, we aren't necessarily getting to what's in their heads. But by putting a person under stress, you can make their facade crack and then we can get an idea of what's underneath.
In Cléo from 5 to 7, Agnes Varda does just that. As the film starts, Cléo ( Corinne Marchand) is getting a tarot reading, and it's not good. We learn that Cléo is sick, and that she will be hearing from the doctor about her test results later that day. Cléo is convinced it's going to be bad, and the tarot reading has not helped her at all. After meeting her friend-cum-personal assistant at a café and composing herself, we follow her in real time as she tries to go about her day.
I say tries, because she doesn't quite succeed. All of her interactions are colored by the news that she's dreading, and it affects her ability to brush off the many microaggressions women face every day. For the first half of the film she's surrounded by people who aren't taking her seriously for one reason or another. Her assistant well-meaningly insists that she's fine, her lover thinks she's exaggerating and won't listen to what she wants, and her coworkers make fun of her and assume she just wants attention. It's no surprise that she storms out in the middle of rehearsal.
The influence of misogyny is felt throughout the film - even Cléo has internalized it to a degree. One of her prime sources of comfort is her own beauty. She vainly looks in mirrors and tries on clothes, and at one point even confesses she's glad her illness is in her belly because it means it won't show on her face. Despite her frustrations with the men in her life dismissing her concerns and ignoring her desires, she still sees her ability to attract them as a key aspect of her self-worth.
Cléo finds some short-lived solace with a more modern and liberated friend, but even she cannot devote the kind of emotional investment Cléo is looking for. After dropping her friend off Cléo heads to a park for some quiet solitude. When a man starts hitting on her she initially turns a cold shoulder. She's already brushed off numerous unwanted advances today and she's in no mood. But he accidentally references her illness, and upon seeing her obvious pain his attitude completely changes.
Unlike anyone else that day - and certainly unlike any of the men - Antoine (Antoine Bourseiller) displays genuine concern for her and wants to help. They talk things over, forming a connection, and agree to an exchange - he'll help her face the news with her doctor, and she'll see him off to Algiers at the train station. The film ends on a final, humorously perfunctory note with Cléo's doctor telling her she'll be fine after a short course of chemo, but in a real sense the film had already found its conclusion - in Cléo finally finding a person willing to listen to her concerns, take her seriously, and do what he can to help.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 10/2: Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb
COLD WAR WEEK
With the modern day looking more like the Cold War than any other time in the past 25 years, it's worth taking a week to reflect on what the Cold War was really like. To that end, next week we'll be watching Stanley Kubrick's brilliantly acidic satire Dr.Strangelove about the threat of mutually assured destruction. Dr. Strangelove is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is only free for Prime members with a Starz add-on.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 9/21: It
This week's podcast concludes its discussion of Stephen King adaptations with the new adaptation of It from Andy Muschietti. Join us next Wednesday for a thread on this record-breaking work of horror. It is still in theaters.
LADIES' WEEK!
Slice-of-life films are a great way to get a window into a way of life; to see a culture and how its members interact with each other. But it can sometimes be hard to really dig into someone's psyche that way. If all we see is how their surface interactions with other people, we aren't necessarily getting to what's in their heads. But by putting a person under stress, you can make their facade crack and then we can get an idea of what's underneath.
In Cléo from 5 to 7, Agnes Varda does just that. As the film starts, Cléo ( Corinne Marchand) is getting a tarot reading, and it's not good. We learn that Cléo is sick, and that she will be hearing from the doctor about her test results later that day. Cléo is convinced it's going to be bad, and the tarot reading has not helped her at all. After meeting her friend-cum-personal assistant at a café and composing herself, we follow her in real time as she tries to go about her day.
I say tries, because she doesn't quite succeed. All of her interactions are colored by the news that she's dreading, and it affects her ability to brush off the many microaggressions women face every day. For the first half of the film she's surrounded by people who aren't taking her seriously for one reason or another. Her assistant well-meaningly insists that she's fine, her lover thinks she's exaggerating and won't listen to what she wants, and her coworkers make fun of her and assume she just wants attention. It's no surprise that she storms out in the middle of rehearsal.
The influence of misogyny is felt throughout the film - even Cléo has internalized it to a degree. One of her prime sources of comfort is her own beauty. She vainly looks in mirrors and tries on clothes, and at one point even confesses she's glad her illness is in her belly because it means it won't show on her face. Despite her frustrations with the men in her life dismissing her concerns and ignoring her desires, she still sees her ability to attract them as a key aspect of her self-worth.
Cléo finds some short-lived solace with a more modern and liberated friend, but even she cannot devote the kind of emotional investment Cléo is looking for. After dropping her friend off Cléo heads to a park for some quiet solitude. When a man starts hitting on her she initially turns a cold shoulder. She's already brushed off numerous unwanted advances today and she's in no mood. But he accidentally references her illness, and upon seeing her obvious pain his attitude completely changes.
Unlike anyone else that day - and certainly unlike any of the men - Antoine (Antoine Bourseiller) displays genuine concern for her and wants to help. They talk things over, forming a connection, and agree to an exchange - he'll help her face the news with her doctor, and she'll see him off to Algiers at the train station. The film ends on a final, humorously perfunctory note with Cléo's doctor telling her she'll be fine after a short course of chemo, but in a real sense the film had already found its conclusion - in Cléo finally finding a person willing to listen to her concerns, take her seriously, and do what he can to help.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 10/2: Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb
COLD WAR WEEK
With the modern day looking more like the Cold War than any other time in the past 25 years, it's worth taking a week to reflect on what the Cold War was really like. To that end, next week we'll be watching Stanley Kubrick's brilliantly acidic satire Dr.Strangelove about the threat of mutually assured destruction. Dr. Strangelove is available for rent on Amazon Video, though it is only free for Prime members with a Starz add-on.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 9/21: It
This week's podcast concludes its discussion of Stephen King adaptations with the new adaptation of It from Andy Muschietti. Join us next Wednesday for a thread on this record-breaking work of horror. It is still in theaters.