Barnes & Noble

Vibrant, lush, and quintessentially French, Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg takes the movie musical to a whole new level. This 1964 masterpiece, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, tells the story of Genevieve (Catherine Deneuve), a young woman who works in her mother's umbrella shop and who falls desperately in love with a young auto mechanic (Nino Castelnuovo). The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is more of an opera than a musical, as even the dialogue is sung. The overall effect is superb, thanks to composer Michel Legrand, whose jazzy, lyrical score is smooth perfection. Adding to the film's charm are vibrant, color-coordinated costumes and sets that create a fairy-tale atmosphere. In place of a fairy tale's obviousness, though, the film has an ambiguous and detached tone that plays superbly off its larger-than-life staging. Demy's tale moves deftly through some sly social observations, telling a story of a love not so much tragically doomed as irreconcilable with the everyday realities of life. The film made Catherine Deneuve a star, and it's easy to see why: She's beautiful, of course, but she evokes both passion and despair with a quiet understatement that is more haunting and resonant than overtly affecting. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a musical classic that leaves one with more than lingering melodies after its closing credits. Gregory Baird

All Movie Guide

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 (a luminous 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, reprising his role from Demy's masterful debut, Lola). A completely sung movie, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is closest in form to a cinematic opera. Composer Michel Legrand composed the score, modeling it around the patterns of everyday conversation. Umbrellas was re-released in 1997. Jason Ankeny

Product Details

• UPC: 741952301493
• Source: KOCH LORBER FILMS
• Aspect Ratio: Vistavision (1.66:1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: Français
• Subtitles: English
• Time: 1:32:00
• Sales Rank: 7,558

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