The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jaques Demy, 1964): France

Reviewed by Saloua Kehal. Viewed at AFI Fest 2013. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg  is a brilliant work of art. Inspired by Hollywood’s musical comedies such as West Side Story, the French director Jacques Demy gave it a try with The  Umbrellas of Cherbourg in which all the lines are sung in French. In 1964, the film won the ‘Palm d’Or’ at the Cannes Festival. I saw the movie at the Afi Film festival 2013 where his wife Agnes Varda was present, and I was pleased with it. The Umbrellas of  Cherbourg can also be compared to an opera because of its form. In fact, unlike a comedy musical, the characters do not dance, they only sing. Also, as an opera, the movie is cut into three acts: the departure, the absence and the return.

 poetry and lighThe film is about Genevieve a young and beautiful girl who lives with her mother who owns a umbrellas shop. The young girl is in love with Guy, a young and handsome man who works in a garage.  Genevieve and Guy already plan their future together. They want to get married and have a child they want to name Francois. However, while Genevieve tells her mother she his seeing Guy, her mother disapproves her relationship with Guy because he does not belong to the same social class. Then, Guy learned that he has to go to war for two years. Genevieve is devastated, but she tells Guy that she will wait for him.  A little while after Guy’s departure, Genevieve finds out she is pregnant. Receiving very few letters from Guy and wooed by another man who is supported by her mother.

If all the words are sung, it was for Demy to add lightness to the film. In this process, Jacques Demy was inspired by the director of the movie ” The rules of the game,”Jean Renoir  who believed that movies and art should not be too realistic because it takes a part of  magic and poetry. Moreover, the music was composed by Michel Legrand. With influences of jazz and classical music, the music gives more intensity to the emotions.

The film is very colorful, from the colors of the walls to the colors of the clothes. The colors are very strong and flamboyant. We can notice a red often associated with the garage where Guy works or with their passion (the red walls of the bar where they go dance), and blue associated with their love relationship for example in the scene when Guy announces to Genevieve that he has to leave for two years. She is wearing a blue dress and holding a blue scarf and he has a blue collard. The bright colors contrast with the context in which the story happens: the war in Algeria. In addition, in this film, Jacques Demy uses mostly long takes because he always considered Max Ophuls who used a long takes in his movies such in Lola Montes as his reference, and he did not want to cut the singing.

Also, no one can watch this film without noticing the beauty and fragility of Genevieve. The role is played by the famous french actress Catherine Deneuve who will also play in another of Demy’s musical comedies called “The  young girls of Rochefort”.

 The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a classic that I believe everyone should watch at least once. The movie is entertaining and touching. The movie is based on the story of two young characters who love deeply each other, and whoare shaked by the War of Algeria like it did to many other people. The movie is also about social classes and conventions. In my opinion the film is beautiful.