ABSTRACT
When she was filming Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962) Varda kept a reproduction of one of Hans Baldung Grien’s images of Death and the Maiden pinned on the wall on set. 1 She explains how the image gave her access to affect, to the feelings of tension and terror of Cléo (Corinne Marchand), her character:
Tout ce que je sentais de la tension intérieure de cette femme douce pendant les quatre-vingt-dix minutes du film (de 5 heures à 6 heures 30), tout cela est inspiré par ces femmes et ces squelettes de Baldung Grien.
[Everything I could feel of the interior tension of this gentle woman for the ninety minutes of the film (from 5pm to 6.30) was inspired by Baldung Grien’s women and skeletons.] 2
