10 Amazing Films Directed By Women
3. Cleo From 5 To 7
Cleo from 5 to 7 is a slow, contemplative film from the French New Wave that vibrantly explores how women just can't win. It delves into the idea that women are constantly being pulled in different directions and given conflicting information about how they're supposed to behave.
The main character, a woman who is convinced that she has cancer and has to endure the painful hours that move like molasses before getting her test results, shows a wide array of female stereotypes, and how women both object and try to confirm to these social norms.
Throughout the film, Cleo constantly experiences the injustice of feeling like no one is taking you seriously, and some of the men in the movie even go so far as to suggest that she is faking her illness to get attention.
But at the same time, Cleo downplays her own potential illness at times and expresses an obsession with vanity that was frequently associated with women at the time, saying, "As long as I'm beautiful, I'm alive." With a deft hand and hard look at one's own mortality, director Agnès Varda creates a unique, existential classic.