No Man’s Land: Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962)

The French empress of cinéma vérité has a now lauded oeuvre but it’s often overlooked that the Godard led cinematic deconstructors of the nouvelle vague were very much a male only affair until Varda arrived on the scene. Her deceptively playful Cléo de 5 à 7 is a rollercoaster of emotional extremes as a Parisian pop singer becomes increasingly worried about her physical and mental state after a Tarot reading. Varda’s education as a photographer gave her a unique style of shooting that distinguishes her from her contemporaries and captures the ‘City of Lights’ in a previously unseen manner.