The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les parapluies de Cherbourg)
Directed by Jacques Demy
Written by Jacques Demy
1964/France/West Germany
Park Film/Madeleine Films/Beta Film
First viewing/Netflix rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Madame Emery: Stop crying. Look at me. People only die of love in movies.
Demy gave us a spectacular Easter basket full of color and music. I love this movie.
Seventeen-year-old Genevieve Emery (Catherine Deneuve) helps her widowed mother in the family umbrella shop. She is madly in love with Guy, who is twenty. He works in a garage and lives with his ailing godmother. They are talking marriage when Guy’s draft notice arrives, sending him away for two years to Algeria. Good-byes mean a night of passion and eternal vows of love.
Genevieve attracts another suitor – older, richer and more sophisticated – but her heart belongs to Guy. When she discovers she is pregnant, can her vows overcome reality?
I had seen the first 10 minutes of this before. I can’t believe I didn’t stay to see the whole thing. I may have been turned off by the sung dialogue. This time, its beauty blew me away. It has also got a wonderfully tender story and Michel Legrand’s fantastic score to accompany the eye candy. Highly recommended.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen; Best Music, Original Song (“I Will Wait for You”); Best Music, Score – Substantially Original; and Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment.
