The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

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Directed by Jacques Demy.

Starring Nino Castelnuovo, Catherine Deneuve, Ellen Farner, Marc Michel, Mireille Perrey, Anne Vernon.

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Jacques Demy's 1964 masterpiece is a pop-art opera, or, to borrow the director's own description, a film in song. This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher (Nino Castelnuovo), a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery (a luminous Catherine Deneuve), an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant (Marc Michel, reprising his role from Demy's masterful debut, Lola). A completely sung movie, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is closest in form to a cinematic opera. Composer Michel Legrand composed the score, modeling it around the patterns of everyday conversation. Umbrellas was re-released in 1997. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (196 ...
by kristen in kristen Blog

loved it.

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"It’s hard to know where to being to begin to describe my personal reaction to this movie but it helped me to understand a deep tragedy in my life- in the views I had adopted. Maybe it helped me to realize the reality of the love that I had so soundly convinced myself was inconceivable, unobtainable, lost. And so, it is a movie about the lost love of my life and the movie that helped me to find him again. I begin with my “DEPARTURE” (the 2nd section of the movie) with Guy. In this section of my life, I convinced myself that even the most real love was suspect and could not sustain a relationship. I believed more in logic than in love because I knew that, from my own experience, I had the best love, the truest love, and that it had escaped me. I tried with all my powers of deception to make love compatible with logic. I convinced myself that I could will myself in love. Now I know this is foolishness, but I had to test the idea. I tried to love another man. He wa ... " [More]

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
by discotrash in discotrash Blog

loved it.

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"The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is one of the most beautiful films of all time. The bold, vibrant colors offset the overall sad story that is being shown. The final scene remains one of the most memorable endings of any film I have ever scene.Every film Jacques Demy made before The Umbrellas of Cherbourg was simply a prequel of what was to come. It is a wonderful film that everyone should watch. " [More]

Paul is Spot On
by vaga_bar in vaga_bar Blog

loved it.

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"This is a beautiful movie. The suggestion that one might consider muting this masterpiece makes me gasp.Mute Kubrick, but not a second of this. These actors are not singing. This is not a musical. These are actors singing their lines and it's lovely. They're pulling off something that had never before or since been equaled. Cry with Deneuve as she pleads with Guy to stay with her and not got go to war and, in the final scene, feel the complexity and depth of emotion in examining what we've done with the "hand we've been dealt".This is a complete work of art. " [More]

La La La
by divinemsjunebug in divinemsjunebug Blog

liked it.

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"I have to agree with everyone who has written reviews about this movie that the Cinematography is beautiful. All the colors are just etched in your brain along with that same tune that is played over and over and over. I had to put it on mute for a while and just read the subtitles, that seemed to bring the charm of the movie back for me. Catherine Deneuve is so young and beautiful this has to be one of her first films. It's actually a great movie to just sit back, relax, enjoy the story and appreciate the art of this 1960s Masterpiece. " [More]

The Micro Five: Unplanned Movie ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

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"Last week, I introduced a new feature called The Micro Five, with the basic concept being that every Tuesday, I would come up with a five-item list based on a micro-specific topic, and then toss the baton to five other film bloggers, who would then rebut my list with a list of their own. I had fun putting together my list of Five Improbable Werner Herzog Anecdotes, but that whole baton tossing part didn't work out so great--the feedback I got indicated that the topic was *too* obscure, and that the rules were too vague. So, we're trying this again. This time I've picked what I think is a more accessible topic, and instead of tagging specific bloggers, I'll leave it open to anyone who wants to respond with a list of their own. If you put together a list, please paste a link in the comments to this post. If you'd like to put together a list but don't have a blog of your own, may I suggest starting one for free at Spout? Next week, I'll do a round-up post linking to all responses. T ... " [More]

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
by paul in paul on spout.com

loved it.

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"I first heard of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg when george said he believed the purist expression of cinema is a musical. When I asked him which film he thought should be dubbed a "Spout Essential," Umbrellas was at the top of his list. At first, I thought he was just being goofy. But after watching this film, I understand what he means.From the opening shot of Umbrellas, director Jacques Demy is communicating that everything you're about to see is maticulously choreographed and beautifully shot. (If you're somebody who has ever muted a Wong Kar Wai film and just watched the cinematography, stop reading this post and buy Umbrellas now.) Every set is decorated to pop from the screen, every costume is timeless, every movement is choreographed, every strand of hair on Catherine Deneuve's head is attended to, and every word is perfectly scripted. Every word has to be scripted because every line of dialogue is sung. All this amounts to a film which constantly reminds you it's totally contr ... " [More]

Pretty but...
by PammyK in Pammyk's thoughts

is neutral about it.

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"I watched The Umbrellas of Cherbourg last night. My thoughts...The movie was pretty to look at. There were so many bright, pretty colors. The bright blue painted walls, the pink, purple and blue wallpaper, the colorful dresses - every scene was full of color. I couldn't feel the right emotion from the sing songy way they were singing. I don't know any french, so the words sounded foreign to me, but I also felt like they were singing in happy la la voices even when the captions I was reading were sad or angry. This made the movie feel less beautiful to me, and more off the wall.The music did indeed get stuck in my head, but I think it was because almost the exact same tune was played for 92 minutes. Was it beautiful or was I just brainwashed? The funniest scene was when Guy and Genevieve were "walking" along on the side walk and Guy was walking his bike...but really they were not making any walking movements, they were just strangely floating down the sidewalk. " [More]

Re: Portable Cinema
by george in GR Movies and Happenings

loved it.

"UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG Thursday, Sept. 14 9:30pm The Blue Bridge, Next to W Fulton St. OUTDOORS! FREE! A friend of mine remarked recently that the since the Grand River is headed west, its eastside would be considered Grand Rapids' Left Bank. This is true, i think. And to celebrate this discovery - as well as all of this pleasantly rainy weather - Portable Cinema is pleased to announce a FREE screening one of our favorite films from EVERYBODY'S favorite French New Wave parallel movement (the Left Bank, get it?) Jacques Demy's 1964 masterpiece THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG literally on the river, midway on the blue pedestrian bridge next to Fulton ST. A film "for all the young lover's of the wide, wide world," UMBRELLA'S OF CHERBOURG is one of the left bank's most stunning and formally experimental films, rife with absolutely brilliant color design and in homage to the classic American musicals of the golden age - staged as a full on opera where every line is sung and every sce ... " [More]

Re: Portable Cinema
by george in GR Movies and Happenings

loved it.

"UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG Thursday, Sept. 14 9:30pm The Blue Bridge, Next to W Fulton St. OUTDOORS! FREE!A friend of mine remarked recently that the since the Grand River is headed west, its eastside would be considered Grand Rapids' Left Bank. This is true, i think. And to celebrate this discovery - as well as all of this pleasently rainy weather - Portable Cinema is pleased to announce a FREE screening one of our favorite films from EVERYBODY'S favorite French New Wave parrallel movement (the Left Bank, get it?) Jacques Demy's 1964 masterpiece THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG literally on the river, midway on the blue pedestrian bridge next to Fulton ST. A film "for all the young lover's of the wide, wide world," UMBRELLA'S OF CHERBOURG is one of the left bank's most stunning and formally experimental films, rife with absolutely brilliant color design and in homage to the classic American musicals of the go ... " [More]

Re: Watch any good foreign film ...
by chopstix in Travelling with film

hasn't rated it.

"you could also give "the umbrellas of cherbourg" a try, starring a young catherine deneuve. " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

loved it.

A visually intoxicating "film in music," Jacques Demy's Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964) pays homage to the Hollywood musical while undercutting the genre's candy-coated sentiment. Focusing on daily rituals and a typical story of young love and thwarted dreams, within an ultra-romantic riot of color and nonstop music and singing, Demy lifts the film above its mundane context while staying true to its unvarnished view of class divisions and youthful fantasy. With all the dialogue sung to Michel Legrand's score, from gas station business to the declaration of devotion between Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo, and the polychromatic costumes coordinated to match production designer Bernard Evein's ornate wallpaper and newly-repainted Cherbourg locations, Demy creates the ultimate musical dream world. Yet that world is ruled by bourgeois prejudices that no adolescent romance can subvert, even on a snowy Christmas night. Winner of the Palme d'Or and Best Actress prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, Les Parapluies de Cherbourg became an international sensation, turning neophyte Deneuve into a star and garnering Oscar nominations for Demy's script, Legrand's score, and the transcendent ballad "I Will Wait for You." Badly faded by the 1970s, it was re-released and restored to its original brilliance in 1992, after years of effort by Demy, Deneuve, Legrand, and Demy's widow, Agnès Varda. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Tags: french , musical , colorful , pregnant , sad
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