Les parapluies de Cherbourg

'Les Parapluies de Cherbourg/The Umbrellas of Cherbourg' is one of those musicals which shouldn't really work, but does. It lacks big song and dance numbers (the only song which has really gone into the public consciousness is the one known in English as 'I Will Wait For You'), but nevertheless, Michel Legrand's score is addictive and effective.

In Jacques Demy's film everything, even the most dull and ordinary of settings, bursts with life and colour. The film boasts one of the most beautiful colour palettes ever seen on the screen, right from the opening scene of umbrellas in primary colours rushed by anonymous people through a rainstorm.

And the film has the young Catherine Deneuve. She is of course as luminous and colourful as her surroundings. As Genevieve, her love affair with Guy represents the first part of the the film, the second and third parts following each of them exclusively. The film says that life choices can't always be what we want, and mistakes have to be made. It is a bittersweet message which means that this film is no fairytale.

I have read through many - but not all -- of the comments on this movie, and I am shocked -- just shocked -- not to find any praise for Nino Castelnuovo who plays the mechanic-draftee Guy. Everyone seems to be captivated with Catherine Deneuve -- which fascination is understandable, I admit. But lack of attention to the centrality of Guy's role -- loved, betrayed, redeemed -- and blindness to the acting and handsomeness of Nino, are totally, totally unforgivable! IMHO.

This must be amongst the most distinctive, idiosyncratic and exquisite films I have seen in a long while. There is nothing particularly new about the plot, which is a straightforward and uncomplicated love story divided into three acts, but the beauty of this film is in the telling of it.

All the dialogue in this film is sung, which at first is a little unsettling, but it actually takes very little time to adjust to. The verse/chorus format of popular music and the musical genre is eschewed for an approach more resembling a modern opera, as the characters croon their lines to each other over a continuous score. This gives the most banal of lines a rhythm and cadence of their own. Because of this I found the French a lot easier to understand than with more naturalistic films, which was fairly handy for me as the print I was watching was with Dutch subtitles! I must confess, I did find that the music (written by Michel Legrand) began to grate towards the end of the 87 minute running time but even so there is still much to admire here. Visually it's stunning, with a bold and vibrant colour palette of almost hallucinogenic intensity and sumptuous costume and set design (that wallpaper!). The opening credit sequence sets the mood perfectly: a birds eye view of the inhabitants of Cherbourg in the rain beneath their umbrellas as they walk across the frame is reduced to a colourful abstraction. Catherine Deneuve is predictably gorgeous and the first act of the young couples courtship is one of the most beautifully pure pieces of cinema I can think of. It reminded me a bit of 'Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris', a film which I saw in television a long time ago and would do absolutely anything to get hold of a copy. 'Les Parapluies de Cherbourg' is a wonderful, sincere and uplifting film that everyone should go and see at least once, and preferably on a big screen. Once seen, never forgotten.

Absolutely wonderful French musical featuring twenty-year old Catherine Denevue singing every word of dialogue along with a cast of well-known (at the time) French actors. The production is opera as only the French knew how to do it. The tale is from old Europe -- love, betrayal, remorse but cast against the last years of France's Algerian crisis. The music, well it starts to sound like side 2 of a Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 record after awhile, nevertheless it does catch your attention and makes you focus on the story. A truly unique movie-going experience, "Umbrellas" is sure to entertain from its giddy start to its surprisingly poignant end. Find it!

Always I considered this film as brilliant example of real cinema. for reasons escaping from the skin of words. for a special form of beauty. for the courage of director. for performances and colors and story. and, yes, especially for music. it seems be a musical. but it is so different by one ! for a sort of...magic. who remains in your memory. who determes you to see it time by time. and for the great emotion defining it as a n experience. it is real cinema example because it is not entertainment. it is not refuge for blockbuster pieces. it is not a demonstration. it is not a show. it could be a confession. about love, life, Cherbourg, umbrellas shop and compromises. in the most delicate and precise manner. a film who remains the best answer when, for understand the life, need, for 90 minutes, escape from it. a gem, maybe. or just the real cinema.