Directed by:
Jacques DemyScreenplay:
Jacques DemyCinematography:
Jean RabierComposer:
Michel LegrandCast:
Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon, Marc Michel, Jacques Demy, Paul Pavel, Dorothée Blanck, Ellen Farner, Michel Legrand, Philippe Dumat (more)VOD (5)
Plots(1)
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 (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). A completely sung movie, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is closest in form to a cinematic opera. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (2)
I had to get used to the fact that the whole film is actually sung, but surprisingly, it's easy to get used to. Catherine Deneuve is absolutely incredible in how she can act and sing. She's beautiful and dramatic, and this is just one of many proofs of what a great actress she has always been, even at such a young age. This musical has an immensely powerful emotional charge.
()
If Demy had only put as much care into the banal plot (the simple chapter titles top everything off) as he put into the colour coordination of the character’s costumes with the setting. Because there is no dancing and the singing is strange, the colours are also the most musical element in the film. Of course, there were even more harmful experiments in the French New Wave. 65%
()
Gallery (74)
Photo © Criterion Collection, The
![The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/159/959/159959435_3d1ef7.jpg)
Ads