The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Rating:
Summary: Indulge yourself!
Review: "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" is the simple and timeless story of two young lovers, Guy and Genevieve (played by Nino Castelnuovo and Catherine Deneuve) who plan to marry until those plans are disrupted when Guy is drafted into military service.

After Guy departs for the Army, Genevieve discovers that she is carrying Guy's child. Genevieve's loving mother Madame Emery, portrayed by Anne Vernon, worries about the future and welfare of Genevieve and her unborn child. Madame Emery is a widow who makes a meager living selling umbrellas in her small shop. (Thus the title of this movie "Umbrellas of Cherbourg".)

One day Mme. Emery visits a local jeweler hoping to sell her necklace in order to obtain some cash to help pay her mounting debts. By chance, she encounters a handsome, young businessman there, Roland, played by Marc Michel. He offers to buy the necklace when the jeweler declines to do so. Roland sees Genevieve who has accompanied her mother. He instantly falls for the lovely young woman.

Will Genevieve wait for Guy to return from the Army? Or will she accept Roland's eventual marriage proposal? You'll have to see this irresistable movie to find out.

"Umbrellas of Cherbourg" is an inventive, unqualified classic. The entire dialogue in this movie is sung by a gorgeous, talented cast. The wondrous Jacque Demy's direction is graceful and elegant. And Demy's screenplay and lyrics are sensitive and perceptive. The performances by Deneuve, Castelnuovo, Vernon and company are superbly gratifying.

As for the rest of this movie, Michel Legrand's music is ravishing and intoxicating. And the photography, sets, and costumes are stylish and accomplished.

This is also the movie that made Catherine Deneuve an international star and deservedly so. Her restrained, yet heartbreaking performance is unforgettable. Deneuve's delicate and entrancing beauty define perfection.

"Umbrellas of Cherbourg" is a richly rewarding cinematic confection. Indulge yourself!

Rating:
Summary: The romance movie to end all romance movies
Review: It seems as if this movie was meant to inoculate the viewer against all the romance movie clichés. It also has another particularity, in that the entire dialogue is sung, with music - essentially making it one long low-profile musical. This can add very much emotion to a story if well done, and in this case it is. The French actors (including a young Catherine Deneuve) do not look ackward.

The story is about two young people who fall in love, but separated by the draft. They come to marry other people, for more practical reasons, and never look back. It is, in essence, a triumph of practicality against romanticism. Also, a big plus for me, kissing is kept at a minimum. If, like me, you hate modern sappy romance movies and their devices and clichés, run, run, run buy The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

Rating:
Summary: "I Will Wait for You"
Review: Maybe not.

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg is one of the most beautiful movies ever made with an enchanting and haunting score by Michel Le Grande, and totally focused, sharp and creative direction by Jacques Demy. Catherine Deneuve gives a fine performance in pinkish white makeup with her blonde hair pulled away from her famous face, at twenty playing a seventeen-year-old shopkeeper's daughter who falls in love with a garage mechanic. He is called away to the war in Algeria after making her pregnant. Will she wait for him as the award-winning song proclaims? Will their love endure the long separation?

All the dialogue is sung. The script is terse with nothing extraneous to the bittersweet story. Because the dialogue is stripped to the barest essentials, the singing seems natural and enhances the dream-like quality established early with the rain falling on the umbrellas and the cobblestone streets of the seacoast town. The sets are splashed in vivid color. Everything is superficially romantic, but the events are the starkest realism.

When a young girl if forced to choose between love and security, which does she choose? It depends on the circumstances, and sometimes circumstances and the passage of time can change her heart.

I was a teenager in France when this was made in the sixties. The backdrops of the white Esso gas station, the red and yellow passenger train cars, the bouffant hair styles on the girls, their eyes heavily made up with mascara and black eyeliner, the ubiquitous bicycles and the little French "cigarette roller" cars all brought back vivid memories of youth as did the musical score.

A question: what ever happened to the "other" girl, Ellen Farner who played Madeleine? To be honest I found her more attractive than Deneuve who of course went on to become a great star and an acclaimed international beauty. Farner was never heard from again.

Some scenes made more effective by their simplicity: When Guinevere (Deneuve) returns home after a late evening with Guy, her mother (Anne Vernon) surveys her daughter and exclaims, "What have you done?" Guinevere retorts sharply, "Mama!" and it is clear what she has done. Also, as Guy is going off to the army Madeleine arrives upon the scene as he is saying good-bye to his stepmother who is ill. They exchange glances that reveal Madeleine's love for him. And then she sings out softly in the heartfelt regret of parting, "Adieu, Guy." We know these are not the last words that will pass between them. Additionally, the brief, beautifully structured, final scene at the shiny new Esso gas station is not to be forgotten.

The scenes with Roland Cassard (Marc Michel), the suave, traveling man of means who sells Madame Emery's jewelry so she can pay the taxes on her umbrella shop, are nicely staged so that we can see at a glance that he is enormously taken with Guinevere and that the mother will do everything possible to further his case. It is agreeable for those identifying with Guinevere that Roland is not only well off financially, but is as handsome as the garage mechanic. But will he still want her when he learns that she is pregnant with another man's child?

Jacques Demy who also wrote the script is to be commended for the effortless pace and tight focus of this romantic tale of star crossed lovers. I wish every director had such an ability to cut the extraneous and concentrate on the essentials without intrusion. The tale is an atmospheric tour de force of love lost and gained, of bourgeois values triumphant.

This might be a bit precious for some, but upon seeing this for the third time, I can tell you I was enchanted anew.

Rating:
Summary: Cet film est tres bien!
Review: My french teacher showed my class this movie just a few weeks ago. Most of the kids in my class thought it was extremely corny, but I liked it! I could understand most of the dialogue in the movie w/o having to read the subtitles, it's pretty easy to understand if you don't know a lot of french. Anyway this is such a good movie, I'd recommend it to anyone who likes dramatic & romantic movies!

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely charming
Review: Enjoyed it from start to finish. Romantic and charming. Has the right mixture of joy, nostalgy, and pain. Deneuve is incredibly disarming. Buy it now and play on rainy days!

Rating:
Summary: Young Love
Review: The poignancy of this film will stay with you for days. You will find yourself longing for a happy ending that never comes. Young love does not conquer all, and this film will leave you wondering if indeed it should at all. The soundtrack is a masterpiece and will affect you to the point of wanting to run out the the nearest language school and sign up for French lessons.

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Summary: Sweet little movie about love and the loss of it.
Review: One of the most tear-jerking movies I've ever seen. It's definitely on the top of my favorite movies. Catherine Deneuve looks great and the music is hauntingly memorable. A masterpiece that deserves to be seen by everyone!

This is the ultimate musical. The entire movie is sung all the way through like Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar. The vivid colors are spectacular. A must-see for film lovers.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant heart-breaker
Review: I saw this back in the 60's. It captivated me by it's unusual concept, which, led me toward a love of musical drama and opera. I was in high school. I immediately bought the soundtrack LP album. Hearing it is wonderful, but this new DVD version is spectacular! Knowing more of French now (though not that much) I recognize that the subtitles are more correct now than when originally released (I bought the badly faded VHS version a while back). Previous reviewers have covered most everything and I'll try not to repeat. One thing that bears repeating is that Catherie Daneuve was the most beautiful woman in the world, then as now. (Subjective, but few will disagree). A fan of musical films, I'm amazed at how the voices seem to seamlessly flow out of the mouths of the actors, since it was dubbed by real singers. The acting remained intact, without the efforts of the vocal ability involved. This restoration pretty much retrieves the original intention of production designer, Bernard Evein. The colors are so grotesquely vivid as to compliment the idea of the sung dialogue. It is indeed a modern fairy tale...young love ain't always what it seems. Jacques Demy took a chance, and gave us a unique film experience of classic proportions. Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the '64 Oscars, it was then nominated in '65 for 4 more after it's American general release (Song "I Will Wait for You"...a standard now...as well as screenplay, original Score and Adapted Musical Score.) I watched an hour of this film before I realized the subtitles weren't on. I was still riveted after all these years. When I first saw this, I was getting over my first pangs of lost love. I can't think of another film that will bring you to those same bitter-sweet moments of your past. So beautifully presented, so naturally acted; you soon forget that they're singing all the time (great voices, too). Ellen Farner, as Madeleine, gives the best performance (she looks a lot like Katharine Ross), her every nuance is heartfelt. This film is so perfectly set-up by Demy, that you can't help be taken away. Have tissues handy.

Rating:
Summary: What a gorgeous surprise !!!
Review: Being French and having seen several other Demy`s movies, we settled down to watch it thinking we already knew it, and the music as well. I was literally STUNNED by the beauty of the colors, the details. With the DVD version, you get the feeling you are INSIDE the rooms with the actors and you can see every detail of their face. Stunning. My husband and I could not stop watching it and it was an absolute delight.

Rating:
Summary: I was affected
Review: This film affected me more than any film I have seen. I wept at the film... at one point I had trouble keeping my eyes open, but had to in order to see what was being said. Never had this happened to me. I have not done that with any film in 20 years... no matter how hard any film tried to get one to cry. The film is in three parts... it is in the third that the effect of the story comes.

The first part is very dramatic, almost to the point of being melodramatic. When the true sorrow comes in, the film is un-dramatic, making the sorrow stronger than melodrama could achieve. A very useful tool. It is not just the story, but the manner in which the story is told. The feeling of isolation is so well done by removing a character one gets use to seeing. The presence is felt by absence. I do not know of any better way of showing isolation.

Very good film.