CDM001 - Week 6 Journal PDF

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A short answer describing a scene from the film Cleo de 5 à 7 (Verda)....

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Jirachaiskul 1 James Jirachaiskul Prof. Branwen Okpako CDM001 06 May 2021 Week 6 Journal - Cléo de 5 à 7 This scene from Agnès Verda’s Cléo de 5 à 7 depicts succinctly its theme of the trappings that restrict Cléo in her day-to-day life, but become especially apparent to her on this day in particular. The film’s use of mirrors as a motif to direct a mise-en-abyme style are reflective of Cléo’s character and internal and external conflicts. The mirrors in question are not only the ones she used in the hat shop, but also the glass windows of the store itself, reflecting the public outside as she peruse the store. The use of mirrors in this scene are meant to portray the infinite repetitions and self point-of-view. Who she, Florence Victoire, is, is a woman who is trying to compose herself from the haunting and foreboding diagnosis she’s to receive later that same day, but the mirror itself reflects back at her is Cléo Victoire, famed singer adored by many. The store windows support this, placing the public’s reflection in the foreground, with Cléo hidden behind their reflections behind the window. This motif of windows is intentional, as seen in many of the movie’s trailers, which uses many of the film’s scenes with mirrors throughout. Verda pursued this type of story as a result of the “new wave” of French cinéma occurring in the world during this time. Rather than traditional storytelling akin to Hollywood, this film is almost a response by acting in a non-traditional viewpoint—a woman at a crossroads of herself and the trappings and pleasures of femininity—being adored but observed with high expectations and scrutiny. Cléo herself in the movie states that she’s “alive” so long she’s “beautiful” to her own reflection, illustrating the angst and suffering she’s feeling but is ignored by those around her. Hilary Neroni’s review of Cléo points out additionally that the movie makes little effort to push Cléo as a feminist hero, but rather someone stuck under the “contraditions of femininity.”...