Agnès Varda’s experimental film follows Cléo, a singer, over an afternoon as she waits on a possible cancer diagnosis. Shot in almost real time, Cléo grapples with her own mortality and objectification as a woman, amid the shadows cast by the war in Algeria. A masterpiece of the Nouvelle Vague, Varda’s work reflects the intellectual hothouse of post-war Paris and through the technical innovations that allowed filmmakers to capture the maelstrom of modern life.