Movie Description
In the innovative film THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, Jacques Demy pays loving homage to the Hollywood musical as well as the French melodrama. The film is shot in Cherbourg, France, using inventive cinematography and blazing colors and textures. Local life is rendered in pink, orange, green, and blue. Wallpapers and umbrella patterns, sweaters and hats, cars and gas stations--each element of the film contributes to the exuberant color and exalted mood. The film is also unique in the sense that every word is sung. The fertile collaboration between Demy and legendary French composer Michel Legrand reaches its climax in the light opera structure and lilting and memorable songs that make up the plot. Catherine Deneuve is the fresh and beautiful 16-year-old Genevieve, pining away in her mother's umbrella shop. When she falls in love with the charming local auto mechanic, Guy (Nino Castelnuovo), worlds collide. The young couple who, in their innocence, believe that love can overcome all obstacles, face many of them, including Genevieve's disapproving mother, an unexpected pregnancy, and Guy's induction into the French Army. Joy and melancholy suffuse every aspect of the film, which explores both the transience of love and the persistence of affection--motifs that Demy would further develop in his follow-up musical, THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT.
| Credits | | Producer: | Mag Bodard | | Cast: | Gisele Grandpre, Harald Wolff, Jacques Camelinat, Pierre Caden, Rosalie Varda |
Notes
DVD Features:
Region [unknown]
Keep Case
Anamorphic Widescreen
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
Dolby Surround - English
Additional Release Material:
Featurette
Interactive Features:
Scene Access
Interactive Menus, Theatrical release: December 16, 1964.
Shot on location in Cherbourg, France.
The film has no spoken dialogue and consists only of music composed Michel Legrand.
For 20 years, the film was only available in faded prints. However, a three-strip negative print was discovered in an archive and Jaques Demy's widow, Agnes Varda, had the movie restored with funding provided by the French Ministry of Culture. In addition, Michel Legrand supervised a new, Dolby stereo remixing of the soundtrack. The restored version of the film was released theatrically by Zeitgeist Films in New York City April 5, 1996.
Editorial Reviews
"...Bedecked in gorgeous pinks and blues....A sumptuously restored print and novelty value unabated by the passage of three decades..."
USA Today - p.8D - Mike Clark
"[Y]ou'll soon be engrossed in atherine Deneuve's mismatch..."
Total Film - Daniel Webb (02/01/2004)
"[I]t is remembered as a bold original experiment, and now that it is restored and back in circulation, it can also be remembered as a surprisingly effective film, touching and knowing and, like Deneuve, ageless."
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert (04/02/2004)
"A still stunning tribute to the MGM musical....The entire show is stolen by a luminescent performance from Catherine Deneuve."
Uncut - Uncut Staff (08/01/2001)
"Deneuve is sweeter than sugar as the beleaguered heroine, but Anne Vernon, as her foxy, grasping mother, is a worldly, unexpected delight."
Sight and Sound - Kate Stables (01/01/2006)
"...THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG stands as a rare example of the kind of pure cinema that is increasing hard to fine. It's wonderful to have it back..."
Los Angeles Times - Kenneth Turan (04/14/1996)
Awards
1964CannesPalme d'Or
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