“Cléo from 5 to 7” (5時から7時までのクレオ), Original Japanese First-Release Movie Poster 1964, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) ZA1126
This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster printed in 1964 for the first Japanese release of Cléo from 5 to 7 (5時から7時までのクレオ), Agnès Varda’s landmark French New Wave masterpiece. Although the film was first released in France in 1962, this poster belongs to its original Japanese theatrical campaign through Towa, whose mark appears at the bottom and serves as an important country-of-origin authenticity detail.
Film background
Directed by Agnès Varda and starring Corinne Marchand, with Antoine Bourseiller and Dominique Davray, Cléo from 5 to 7 follows a young singer across a near-real-time stretch of Paris as she waits for the results of a medical test. It is one of the defining achievements of the French New Wave and remains especially admired for its fusion of formal precision, emotional immediacy, and feminine subjectivity. Varda’s treatment of time, vanity, mortality, urban movement, and self-perception gives the film its enduring modernity.
The film is also notable for its remarkable supporting appearances, including figures associated with the wider New Wave world such as Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina, whose cameos contribute to its rich cultural texture.
Poster design
This is a superb and highly elegant Japanese release design. The composition is dominated by a large high-contrast profile of Corinne Marchand, her sculptural hair and poised expression giving the image an immediate sense of Parisian chic and introspection. Around this central portrait are smaller vignette images that deepen the film’s atmosphere and suggest the shifting selves and moods of Cléo herself. The restrained cream ground, balanced red and blue typography, and delicate layout give the poster a refined visual intelligence entirely in keeping with Varda’s cinema.
Unlike louder or more literal poster designs, this sheet feels poised, stylish, and psychologically alert. It captures the film’s central themes of beauty, performance, and anxiety with unusual sophistication, making it a particularly desirable poster for collectors of Nouvelle Vague cinema and Japanese release paper.
Condition
Very Good / Excellent overall. Please review the photos—they show the exact poster for sale. The poster presents attractively overall, with strong tonal range and very good display appeal. It has light general age-related handling, some edge and corner wear, and visible signs of age on the reverse including minor tape residue, and small areas of paper loss and wear at the upper corners. This is consistent with an authentic vintage theatrical poster from this period. Despite this, the front still displays very well overall.
We have taken the condition into account when pricing this item. Once framed, it will display very well.
It is over 62 years old!
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
