Les Parapluies de Cherbourg
Taglines: a film for all the young lovers of the world.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg movie storyline. The lives of Geneviève Emery and Guy Foucher of Cherbourg, France are presented in 4 acts, in director Jacques Demy’s fable of young love. The entire film is sung (It takes only a moment to get used to).
This is really one of THE most gorgeous, unique films – the softly-hued pastels and vibrant solid (Eastman Colror) colours are used to help conversation, emotions and dramatise the story. Every time I’ve seen it with an audience, by the end, they’re all sniffling, as tear falls. I’m willing to bet so will you. Watch this with someone special.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a 1964 musical romantic drama film directed and written by Jacques Demy and starring Catherine Deneuve, Anne Vernon, Nino Castelnuovo, Marc Michel, Ellen Farner, Mireille Perrey, Jean Champion, Pierre Caden, Jean-Pierre Dorat, Bernard Fradet, Dorothée Blanck and Jane Carat. The music was composed by Michel Legrand. The film dialogue is all sung as recitative, including casual conversation, and is sung-through, or through-composed like some operas and stage musicals.
Umbrellas is the middle film in an informal “romantic trilogy” of Demy films that share some of the same actors, characters and overall look; it comes after Lola (1961) and before The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967). The film was very successful in France, and was also shown internationally, introducing Deneuve to a larger audience.
It was nominated for several Academy Awards, including for Best Foreign Film, Best Song, Best Soundtrack, and Best Original Screenplay. It won three awards at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival, including its top prize, the Palme D’or. Jim Ridley has called Cherbourg “the most affecting of movie musicals, and perhaps the fullest expression of [Demy’s] career-long fascination with the entwining of real life, chance, and the bewitching artifice of cinematic illusion.”
About the Story
Part One: The Departure (November 1957)
Madame Emery and her beautiful 16-year-old daughter Geneviève (Catherine Deneuve) have a tiny, struggling umbrella boutique in the coastal town of Cherbourg in Normandy, France. Guy (Nino Castelnuovo) is a handsome young auto mechanic who lives with and cares for his sickly aunt and godmother Elise.
Though Geneviève’s mother (Anne Vernon) disapproves, Guy and Geneviève are deeply in love; they plan to marry and name their first child “Françoise”. At the same time Madeleine (Ellen Farner), a quiet young woman who looks after Guy’s aunt, is secretly in love with Guy. He is drafted to serve in the Algerian War. The night before he leaves, he and Geneviève pledge their undying love and have sex, perhaps for the first time.
Part Two: The Absence (January 1958 – April 1958)
Geneviève learns she is pregnant and writes to Guy, but his replies are sporadic. Her mother tells her to give up on Guy – he has forgotten her. Geneviève is courted by Roland Cassard (Marc Michel), a kind, young, very wealthy Parisian jeweler; he wants to marry her despite her pregnancy.
In one of the connections among Demy’s trilogy of films, Roland had previously unsuccessfully wooed the title character in the earlier Lola (1961); now he relates a version of this story to Madame Emery. Madame Emery urges Geneviève to be sensible and choose a secure future with Roland. Geneviève marries Roland in a great cathedral, but she appears ambivalent about her decision.
Part Three: The Return (March 1959 – December 1963)
Returning injured from the war, Guy learns that Geneviève has married and left Cherbourg. He has difficulty readjusting to civilian life. After an argument with his boss he quits his job, goes drinking in a seedy bar, and spends the night with a prostitute. When he returns to his apartment, Madeleine tells him that his aunt Elise has died.
Guy sees that Madeleine loves him, and he rebuilds his life with her help. Using the inheritance from his aunt he opens a new “American-style” gas station. Madeleine agrees to marry him, though she wonders whether he is merely on the rebound after losing Geneviève.
Four years later, on a snowy Christmas Eve, Guy and Madeleine are in the office of their gas station with their small son François. Madeleine is decorating a Christmas tree. They appear a loving, happy family. As Madeleine and François leave to visit Santa Claus, an expensive car pulls in. The mink-clad driver is Geneviève, now wealthy and sophisticated. She has a young girl with her. As Guy rounds the car to Geneviève’s window their eyes meet and there is a moment of awkwardness.
Guy invites Geneviève into the warmth of the station’s office, where they chat as a boy attends to Geneviève’s car. This is Geneviève’s first time in Cherbourg since her marriage, she tells him; her mother died recently. Looking outside at the girl in the car, Guy asks, “What did you name her?” Geneviève answers, “Françoise. She’s a lot like you. Do you want to see her?” Guy shakes his head.
The car is ready. At the door Geneviève pauses and asks, “Are you doing well?” Guy replies, “Yes, very well.” She opens the door and pulls her collar tight against the cold before looking back at Guy one last time. She walks to her car, gets in, and drives off. Madeleine returns with François, and Guy greets her with a kiss. As the camera pulls back, he frolics with his son in the snow, then picks him up and follows Madeleine inside.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
Directed by: Jacques Demy
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Anne Vernon, Nino Castelnuovo, Marc Michel, Ellen Farner, Mireille Perrey, Jean Champion, Pierre Caden, Jean-Pierre Dorat, Bernard Fradet, Dorothée Blanck, Jane Carat
Screenplay by: Jacques Demy
Production Design by: Bernard Evein
Cinematography by: Jean Rabier
Film Editing by: Anne-Marie Cotret, Monique Teisseire
Costume Design by: Jacqueline Moreau
Makeup Department: Christine Fornelli
Music by: Michel Legrand
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Rate: February 19, 1964 (France)
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