In 1964, Jacques Demy did something extraordinary for the French New Wave – he made a romantic film musical. The director, who was just 33 at the time, added a twist: all dialogue, no matter how mediocre, would be sung by actors with pleasant but amateurish-sounding voices. Named after the umbrella shop where the film’s heroine Genevieve (played by Catherine Deneuve) and her mother (played by Anne Vernon) work, this Umbrellas in Cherbourg The global hit catapulted Deneuve to international stardom and gave Demy a popular reputation he would never experience again before his untimely death from AIDS-related illness in 1990.
Now back to 4k resolution, this Umbrellas in Cherbourg This is simply one of the most stunningly beautiful films to ever grace the screen: ultra-saturated, ultra-feminine colors, textures and lines. Greta Gerwig says the film is important to Barbie;Damien Chazelle said the same thing la la land.
I saw it twenty years ago Umbrella It was first shown at Nashville’s arthouse cinema after it was originally restored under the direction of Demy’s widow, acclaimed film director Agnès Varda. The 2024 restoration, overseen by their son Mathieu Demy, gave the macarons an even more decadent look. Unlike most movie musicals past and present, it doesn’t have a huge cast, elaborate dancing, lavish sets or great singing. Umbrella There is no doubt that this film is dominated by images and story, and Michel Legrand’s wonderful score, whose main theme “I will wait for you” will haunt you until the end – despite the film’s It changed the color palette of Candy Crush, but the ending was bittersweet. In Demy’s colorful world, even the petty bourgeoisie had reason to sing.
The first shot, over two minutes long, of Cherbourg’s humble port, hangs low over the rain falling on the worn cobblestones. Various passers-by hold umbrellas and, along with the opening credits, gesture to the tricolor flag, which is one of many reminders: French Movie. Until the works of Jean-Pierre Jeunet Amelie In 2001, it was probably the most notable French film to hit the world. and like Ameliethe delightful scenes often distract from the plot. However, unlike Genet’s film, the story is not set in Paris, but in a shipping town famous for a key battle during World War II.
A classic story about love and loss, Umbrella Also gorgeous colors. What is less obvious is that this is a film about class. The hero, Guy (Nino Castelnuovo), is a car mechanic, the kind of guy who (typically French) brags to people in his garage about giving up a sporting event to go watch a game. Carmen In the theater with Geneviève. Depictions of blue-collar people in movies often feature rather dull color schemes, as if their romantic crushes pale in comparison to their blue-blooded peers. But in Umbrella, Genevieve and Guy strolled around the harbor wearing complementary pink and blue outfits.
“I only thought of you, and now you have to wait for me,” Gay declares in one of the film’s many superlative lines. Of course, Genevieve wouldn’t wait, but as she gets older, the reasons seem more reasonable. Umbrella It doesn’t patronize young lovers, no matter how extravagant their pronouncements; it commemorates the depth of their earth-shattering relationship, no matter how brief.
“Perhaps happiness makes me sad,” says Guy’s ailing godmother when she realizes he is in love. In French, this word means to cry, cryJust a few letters away rainmeaning “to rain”. Umbrella It’s a glorious reminder that falling in love, no matter how divine, can leave us in tears and feeling like it’s falling from the sky. It’s also a reminder that movies, arguably the most important form of visual media of the 20th century, can still be astonishing in the 21st century – especially when experienced on a colorful big screen.
Umbrellas in Cherbourg Screenings December 10-12 and 20 at Film Forum (209 West Houston Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan).
