The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) User Reviews

9/10

[desperateliving · 9/10 · 27 January 2005]

The first of the three segments is perhaps the sunniest film ever made. It's a totally original film (at least from what I've seen); so original, in fact, that at first it's kind of off-putting -- the artificiality of the bubble gum colors (in the first segment, as they change slightly as each moves into the next), the constantly moving camera, and the fact that all of the lines are sung makes it hard to get situated within the film, for the same reason that you turn the car radio down when you're driving down a street trying to read house numbers. ("I can't follow the plot, they keep singing...") And yet Demy isn't satisfied with just being sunny (and his brightness is never garish); each segment has a specific feel, the grandest being the last, with an ending that's just right. (Though it should be said that Demy never once sacrifices the pleasure he creates, nor does he fall into any stale conventions, even while his story is based on the oldest of movie clichés -- wait for me!).

I hesitate to use the word melodrama, but that's essentially what the film is, both for the meaning of the word "melo" (music) and for the heightened emotions brought on my the music. It feels like we've got our head in the clouds, not least of all because the acting is aided by, well, the singing. The music, which is nearly always splendid (and never song-and-dancey), compliments the actors. At first the acting is very plain; or at least, it seems that way. I think that's due to the unconventional approach. Deneuve's loveliness as a young woman keeps us from responding to much aside from her beauty (and she starts off as a typical love-struck sixteen year-old), but by the end she's quite a different person, and to overuse a term applied to Deneuve, she becomes elegant. (I kept looking at her handsome costar thinking Alain Delon would have been perfect in the role; then I learned his most noteworthy film aside from this one was the Delon-starring Visconti film, "Rocco and His Brothers.) Surely some people would probably vomit at a film of such shameless exhibitionism and style, but I was left astonished, thinking, How in the hell did they pull it off? 9/10

Bold Series of Uninterrupted Recitatives Constitute Demy's Brightly Colored But Sad Love Story

[EUyeshima · 7/10 · 12 December 2005]

In 1964, filmmaker Jacques Demy made an audacious move by directing a deceptively simple love story completely in song. I would be hard pressed to call this movie a musical, opera or even an operetta since there are neither show-stopping production numbers nor soul-bearing arias on the soundtrack. Instead, we are presented everyday dialogue in a series of recitatives that bring a dramatic urgency to the most mundane of events. Why it works is that the story is not the happy-go-lucky romance one would suspect it will be from the bright colors of the production but rather a melancholy tale of love unfulfilled and the tenuousness of longing in the face of harsh realities. It is a Gallic version of "Romeo and Juliet" by way of William Inge's tale of teenage lust, "Splendor in the Grass" (in fact, Demy's ending bears a striking resemblance to the last scenes of Elia Kazan's film three years earlier).

The plot focuses on teen-aged star-crossed lovers Genevieve and Guy, who develop a relationship through clandestine meetings despite the disapproval of Genevieve's mother, who thinks a gas station mechanic is beneath her daughter. The lovers eventually consummate their relationship once Guy finds he has been drafted to serve for France during the Algerian conflict. With Guy away, Genevieve discovers she is pregnant and must decide whether to wait for Guy's uncertain return or marry the rich diamond dealer, Roland Cassard, her mother's preference given the failing business of her umbrella shop. The story develops in subtle strokes almost like a Yasujiro Ozu film in that there aren't really any melodramatic confrontation scenes but instead moments of revelation. The wondrous Catherine Deneuve, all of twenty, had her first important role as Genevieve, and it's no wonder her career seems assured from her ethereal performance. With his earthy good looks and open-hearted manner, Nino Castelnuovo complements Deneuve as Guy, and their romance is palpable even in an amusingly contrived shot where they are obviously on a conveyor belt moving down the street. Anne Vernon lends a robust presence as Genevieve's mother as she plots her daughter's fate, and Marc Michel is appropriately bland as Roland.

Along with the vibrant colors faithfully recaptured in a 1996 restoration, such artifices really add to the film's charm. However, just as essential is Michel Legrand's score with his swooning romanticism at its most cinematic (and a precursor to the music he composed for Barbra Streisand's 1983 "Yentl"), as it fills the dramatic arcs from start to finish. You will likely recognize the lounge standard melodies for the Americanized translations, "I Will Wait for You" and "Watch What Happens", as they are pervasive through the recitatives. I enjoyed the movie very much but realize this will not be everyone's cup of tea, especially those already alienated by the musical genre. One can see this as an even more exaggerated form, but you can probably tell by the first two minutes whether you will be enraptured by it. The DVD also includes an excerpt from Demy's widow Agnes Varda's illuminating 1995 documentary, "The World of Jacques Demy".

Changing The Wallpaper

[dragon-90 · 8/10 · 12 February 2005]

Absolutely wonderful French musical featuring twenty-year old Catherine Denevue singing every word of dialogue along with a cast of well-known (at the time) French actors. The production is opera as only the French knew how to do it. The tale is from old Europe -- love, betrayal, remorse but cast against the last years of France's Algerian crisis. The music, well it starts to sound like side 2 of a Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 record after awhile, nevertheless it does catch your attention and makes you focus on the story. A truly unique movie-going experience, "Umbrellas" is sure to entertain from its giddy start to its surprisingly poignant end. Find it!

It makes my heart ache just to think about it...

[thedavidovitch · 10/10 · 19 September 2003]

Some things are so wonderful you can't quite believe they exist. A technicolour heaven with a young Catherine Deneuve at her most beguiling and beautiful in a film that's entirely sung in the most exquisite way? Pinch me, I still can't get over the fact this film exists.

Everyone has a film they return to when they're feeling jaded, sick of Hollywood or simply because it's raining outside. I have two films I turn to at these times. One is Singin' in the Rain; the other is this little gem. Both transport me to a world of colour, joy and heartache, yet both stay just the right side of sentimental too.

Of course the plot is a little convoluted; of course the entirely sung script makes it a little jarring at first - but just sit back and let Les Parapluies do its magic. You won't regret it. I promise ;-)

Pure romance with a beautiful score

[fairyeyes16 · 22 October 2003]

I saw this movie in 1964 when I was 11 years old. It was my introduction to heartbreaking love and this movie probably influenced my love life or how I imagined love was supposed to be. My mother had to lead me from the theatre when it was over because I was blinded with tears. Many years passed until I was able to order the film in VHS and watch it again (about 3 years ago). I still love it. The vivid colors, Genevieve and Guy's beauty and youth, and the beautiful score by Michele LeGrande combine to transport you to a magical place. I loved the fact that every word was sung, but it was not like opera at all. After a few minutes it was as if every word is always sung and talking doesn't exist. Catherine Deneuve was so beautiful! I love this movie and highly recommend it.

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.

[bbrow07 · 10/10 · 8 June 2004]

A glorious film

just a few things to add to what everyone else has said

[NB SPOILERS towards the bottom of the page - not that the plot is exactly a suspense]

• It's a "realistic" story on the face of it. The whole thing is reminiscent of the "verismo" Italian operas from the end of the 19th century, like Cavalleria Rusticana, where soap-opera plots about ordinary people are set to emotionally stunning over-the-top drama-queen music - inherently a democratic kind of style, saying that shopworkers and little old ladies have as much right to passion and glory as kings or gangsters or movie stars.

• Yes, the singing is silly. But the film knows this - in the very first scene the men in the washroom joke about "Carmen" (another example of the same style) and one of them sings something like "I'm going to see a film, I don't like Opera, I can't stand all the singing". Its a film that *knows* mechanics don't (usually) sing arias while they check the oil, and makes a joke about it. Buffy fans will have got the same point from "Once more with feeling" - the Fundamental Problem of the Musical is: "why is everybody singing?"

• But there is something unrealistic about it, the beauty. Everyone and everything is good-looking. The people are beautiful. The dirty old town is beautiful. Cheap bars are beautiful. Squalid damp flats are beautiful. Abandoned hulk ships are beautiful. A garage forecourt with petrol pumps and a canopy is beautiful. All the men are good-looking. And as for the women - someone asked why more men than women like this weepy film. The obvious answer is Catherine Deneuve. But Anne Vernon playing her mother is cuter than anyone her age has a right to be. And as for Ellen Farner... Guy has not one but two stupendously attractive women after him, which is about 1.99 more than the average member of the audience.

• The costumes match the background far too often for it to be anything but deliberate. At first its even more confusing than the singing. Madame Emery dresses differently to match the wallpaper of the shop and her flat, sometimes her clothes even seem to change colour for no reason other than to match the scenery. Genevieve stands in front of a window while a truck that's exactly the same shade as her cardigan pulls up behind her. When she tries on her maternity dress it has the same combination of royal blue background and pink flowers as the wallpaper behind her. When she walks past the docks with Roland they are both wearing different shades of off-white - hers matches the rusting paint on the old ships, his matches the cliffs visible in the distance. When Guy and Madeleine sit next to each other outside the cafe her orange-brown clothes and even her lipstick match the door behind her while his dark brown jacket matches not only the wood behind him but also her hair - exactly the same trick we've seen when he was sitting next to the prostitute Jenny with her red dress on front of the red screen inside the other bar. We are in fantasy land here, even if it looks a little like Cherbourg.

• but this is all the same as the singing. To ask "how does a poor family afford such clothes?" or "why is the delivery van exactly that shade of yellow?" is to miss the point as much as to ask "why does a shopkeeper sing to his customers?" or "why does it always rain when we say goodbye?". In this movie, in this fantasy land, the world is turned upside down, the meek can inherit the earth (or at least look as if they might), small-town Cherbourg is as romantic as Paris, sailors and truck-drivers sing while they work, the poor wear clothes that money can't buy, the scenery changes colour to match your wardrobe, every man looks like a leading man, and every shop-girl truly is as beautiful as any duchess.

• This is "Singing in the Rain" set in the backroom of a shop instead of the back lot of a Hollywood studio, this is "West Side Story" without the violence, this is a small-town "Moulin Rouge", this is "Brief Encounter" on acid.

• It's not a tragic ending, any more than the endings of Casablanca or Brief Encounter are tragic. It's the right ending. We're not so much sad for Genevieve - even though we are crying - as we are happy for Roland (who deserves a break. Even though we know he's probably a crook) If we are crying its because Guy needs to hug Francoise. We expect that the marriages will work out in the end - maybe they have worked out already. If these people are not going to be happy its not because they married the wrong partners.

• and what other film has had hundreds of thousands of viewers in floods of tears watching an aerial shot of an Esso service station?

If cotton candy were a movie...

[Rathko · 10/10 · 14 June 2006]

A very French, very idiosyncratic musical that while lacking any discernible 'songs' or dance routines manages to be one of the most affecting musicals ever written. Remy says he was inspired by American musicals, and yet a more non-American could hardly be imagined. Can we really pretend that an American studio in 1963 would endorse the story of pre-marital sex and the romance of marrying a 17-year old girl pregnant with another man's child and not feel the need to moralize or condemn? Only in France, and thank God for it. All the cast are brilliant - charming and charismatic; the production design looks like a psychedelic gingerbread house; the score is exceptional; the singing genuinely heart-felt and moving; and the whole thing is carried off with such effortless confidence and unreserved joy that it's impossible not to fall in love with it.

"I Will Wait for You"

[DennisLittrell · 10/10 · 14 January 2003]

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 Genevière (Deneuve) returns home after a late evening with Guy, her mother (Anne Vernon) surveys her daughter and exclaims, "What have you done?" Genevière 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 Genevière and that the mother will do everything possible to further his case. It is agreeable for those identifying with Genevière 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.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

A bittersweet and sad film operetta without spoken dialog well made by Jacques Demy

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 11 August 2019]

A young woman called Genevieve, Catherine Deneuve, is the teenaged daughter of a widow, Anne Vernon, who owns an umbrella shop at the little town of Cherbourg, France . Then Genevieve is separared from her fiance' , Nino Castelnuovo, by Algeria war and during a long time she faces off dificulties and loneliness in her new situation. When her former lover goes back they are several surprises . But when they meet once again will their love be rekindled?. A film for all the young lovers of the wide , wide world...A Valentine for All the Young Lovers of the World , in Song and Color .

Pretty good musical movie considered to be a classic French movie , set in Cherbourg where the famous Umbrella Shop still exists at 13 Rue Da Port . Wonderfully evocative musical score and glamorous cinematography enhance the story . It is well set for 1957 to 1963 in Cherbourg, actual town that Jacques Demy took over for shooting . The exciting tale deals with a bittersweet and downbeat romance in which a beautiful girl falls really in love for her equally young boyfriend but both of whom are separated by his military duty in Algeria. It is divided in three parts : Depart, Absence and Le Retour. The picture is very well starred by Catherine Deneuve as the abandoned young woman who is expecting, Nino Castelnuovo as her garage mechanic lover , Marc Michel as the wealthy Roland and Ann Vernon as unfortunate but stubborn widow. This candy-colored fantasy drama to be watched in French language with subtitles, though is also available dubbed in English, but being inappropriate, no having the same effectiveness . It is followed by a similar film : "The young girls of Rochefort" by Jacques Demy with Catherine Deneuve, her real life sister Francois Dorleac , who a bit later on she died by car crash , George Chakiris, and Gene Kelly. It contains a colorfully brilliant cinematography by cameraman Jean Rabier, the gorgeous photography influenced really on subsequent French films , along with a marvellous soundtrack by Michael Legrand.

The motion picture was original and competently directed by Jacques Demy. It won Gold Palm in Cannes Festival and Oscar nominated to best foreign film. Demy was a good French director who made all kinds of genres and getting successes in Musical ones . His first big hit was Lola . Shooting nice films as The seven deadly sins , Bay of Angels , Peau D'Ana, Una chambre en ville, A slightly pregnant man, Lady Oscar, The pied piper, Donkey skin, Parking and "The young girls of Rochefort" that is Demy's followup to Umbrellas of Cherbourg , it is equally an atractive and charming musical in similar style . And a TV series : Louisiana. Rating 7/10. Better than average. Well worth seeing.

Most unfortunate if you can't bear singing in movies.

[jakkiih · 10/10 · 9 June 2006]

1. Coloring, that is absolutely matchless 2. Even the first notes of the main theme make you cry 3. Unique way of singing in a musical 4. One of the most touching love stories 5. Beautiful Catherine Deneuve 6. It's not American 7. Made in the sixties 8. You can watch it over and over again 9. Since you've once seen it.. you must watch it over and over again 10. Esso-scene

Ten more or less good reasons why this just might be the one.. the favorite movie of mine. I partly understand people who hate it, the singing is the main reason i think. But the unique way of singing! Not in the traditional way this is a musical, people just happen to sing when they talk. And the music (especially main theme) is so hauntingly beautiful it really does make you want to cry when you hear the first notes.

The coloring is like in no other film. The clothing and background have been matched in every single scene of the movie. That's real cinema, that's beautiful! And if that's beautiful already, then what comes when the 20-year old Catherine Deneuve is in the lead role! Just WOW!

Once again I don't bother explaining any of the plot, because there's no point really...but one of the saddest scenes in movie history, is the Esso-scene in this one. Watch it! if you're not too busy watching the latest Van-Damme.

A film with a unique style that grows on you

[J-26 · 7/10 · 31 October 2008]

This film is not only a one-off in cinema terms, it is in terms of any art form. It is not in the style of a usual musical or even an opera. While all the dialogue is sung as recitative as in opera, it doesn't have the regular musical highlights that musicals and opera provide. There are a number of very distinctive musical themes - most of which have been recorded by other artistes with completely different words - but at no point do we get an intended show-stopper - and there's definitely no dancing! So a first viewing can be a complete culture shock. I almost didn't persevere past the first ten minutes, but, if nothing else, the presence of Catherine Deneuve (whom I would watch singing the Paris phone book) persuaded me to continue. I did start to get the measure of things, but had it not been for the dramatic, sad, and possibly ambiguous last few minutes I'm not sure I would have returned to the film again. I did however do so, again taking a while to adjust to the 'rules' but getting increasingly involved again as it moved to the the conclusion. It was only on a third viewing after a break of several years and being ready for it that I fully enjoyed the whole enterprise - the bright colours, the town of Cherbourg which I know from a long time ago, Catherine Deneuve (I may have mentioned her already), the music with its restrained orchestration, the plot, and that ending.

Just simply the most beautiful romantic film ever made

[preppy-3 · 10/10 · 10 September 2005]

In 1957 France a 17 year old shop girl (Catherine Deneuve) is in love with a gas station worker (Nino Castelnuovo). Her mother is totally against the romance. He's called off to serve in the war for two years. They must part but have sex before he leaves. Then she discovers she's pregnant...

Sounds terrible but it isn't. All the dialogue is sung and the film is done in just breathtaking color--all the sets are decorated to take advantage of this. The colors just leap out at you and some of the scenes are unbelievably beautiful. The musical score is haunting and Deneuve (who became known by this film) and Castelnuovo make a very attractive, sympathetic couple.

The film is just gorgeous--I can't stress enough how beautiful it is and the music (especially the title theme) is so moving. It all leads up to a finale that has me crying every single time I see it. It IS a happy ending (sort of) but the emotions of the two characters really tear you apart.

The acting is good, the film moves quickly (90 minutes) and--quite simply--this is one of the best foreign films ever made. It's not for everybody but if you're a romantic (like me) you'll love it. But be warned--have PLENTY of tissue handy for the end. I've seen it four times and I STILL cry at the end! A definite must see. A 10+.

Sweet France

[valadas · 7/10 · 16 February 2010]

Typical French story of the sixties of last century, a mixture of romanticism and realism this time shown through beautiful very sentimental lyrics (it's a musical after all). A very simple love story full of encounters and disenchantments anyway. It's well told in images and dialogues and of course Catherine Deneuve is so beautiful... But that mother of hers (role done by Anne Vernon) spoiled her romance with her greed and conventional ideas. And the war in Algeria contributed no less to it too.

A good movie indeed and if it isn't a masterpiece it's only because the story is too simple and unsophisticated.

Not a good experience

[nixy-caos · 4/10 · 14 February 2021]

I try to evaluate a film considering mainly my experience, obviously within my context and my prejudices. And I also consider the genre to which the film belongs, taking my favorites from that genre as benchmarks (in this case, "The Sound of Music", "The Greatest Showman" and "La La Land"). I know that there is some anachronism in my analysis, but I can't deal well with a musical that is sung in every single word. It is extremely artificial and exaggerated - even annoying, irritating. It just spoils a good story, at least in my experience. Sorry, but it didn't work for me.

Beautifully sad; a must-see! (SPOILER)

[eustfam · 10/10 · 12 September 2004]

I heard so much about this film but missed seeing it in 1964 during its first release simply because it was never shown here. I finally got to see it 40 years after its debut and it remains as fresh and enchanting as I imagined it to be. The film is quite heartbreaking because Genevieve (Catherine Deneuve) did not persevere in her love for Guy. I can only imagine what pain Guy had to bear facing war in Algeria knowing his fiancée back home was pregnant with his child and he couldn't do anything about it. The blaze of colors in the movie was a contrast to the somber atmosphere of infidelity and lost love. I suppose they both had fairly good marriages but we can gleam that they did not reach the pinnacle of joy and had to settle for second best in the end. It sort of reminded me of Elia Kazan's "Splendor in the Grass"--Warren Beatty's character and Natalie Wood's character--they did not "live happily ever after"--they just settled for second best.

It is very clear that Genevieve continued to carry the memory of her lost love--otherwise she would not have made the detour to Cherbourg and meet Guy "accidentally"...It was such a heartbreaking scene--they meet each other after many many years and they have named their children with the same name--the name they planned to give their first-born as they made their future plans together before he leaves for his army stint. I wonder, would it still be as beautiful if it ended happily? In any case, it is one of the most unforgettable films I have ever seen. Try to get hold of the DVD copy for your collection. :-)

An offbeat but beautifully stylised and colourful piece of cinema

[Jasper-18 · 9 August 1999]

This must be amongst the most distinctive, idiosyncratic and exquisite films I have seen in a long while. There is nothing particularly new about the plot, which is a straightforward and uncomplicated love story divided into three acts, but the beauty of this film is in the telling of it.

All the dialogue in this film is sung, which at first is a little unsettling, but it actually takes very little time to adjust to. The verse/chorus format of popular music and the musical genre is eschewed for an approach more resembling a modern opera, as the characters croon their lines to each other over a continuous score. This gives the most banal of lines a rhythm and cadence of their own. Because of this I found the French a lot easier to understand than with more naturalistic films, which was fairly handy for me as the print I was watching was with Dutch subtitles! I must confess, I did find that the music (written by Michel Legrand) began to grate towards the end of the 87 minute running time but even so there is still much to admire here. Visually it's stunning, with a bold and vibrant colour palette of almost hallucinogenic intensity and sumptuous costume and set design (that wallpaper!). The opening credit sequence sets the mood perfectly: a birds eye view of the inhabitants of Cherbourg in the rain beneath their umbrellas as they walk across the frame is reduced to a colourful abstraction. Catherine Deneuve is predictably gorgeous and the first act of the young couples courtship is one of the most beautifully pure pieces of cinema I can think of. It reminded me a bit of 'Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris', a film which I saw in television a long time ago and would do absolutely anything to get hold of a copy. 'Les Parapluies de Cherbourg' is a wonderful, sincere and uplifting film that everyone should go and see at least once, and preferably on a big screen. Once seen, never forgotten.

Magical with 3 great scenes

[swennator · 10/10 · 3 January 2006]

The first time I rented this movie, I fell asleep. I was not ready for singing gas station attendance in an absurd world of extreme colors. The one thing I picked up from that partial viewing was that this movie was unique.

Years later I gave Umbrellas a second chance...knowing what I was in store for. Once I got past that 'god this is silly' feeling, the movie started to grow on me. The movie kind of meanders with trite situations, almost setting the story up for three peak moments: ***SPOILERS*** The first masterpiece scene is of course "I Will Wait For You". The song is beautiful, and by this time in the movie you're perfectly willing to accept the fact that the couple can 'glide' down the street...they don't need to walk, they're in love.

The second great scene is the closing of Act One at the Train Station. I love the fact that it's short and without the overkill Shakespearian dialog. "My Love" and "I love you"...simple and painful.

The ending of this movie may very well be the best ending to a movie ever. Part of it's brilliance is that it just comes out from nowhere...December 1963 is the only warning. It looks like another random scene at the gas station, then a car rolls up and that familiar music begins to play (it's like the music to Jaws...you just know something is about to happen.) The tension is as thick as any war or action movie...I mean just the guy asking what type of gas she wanted was stressful. It's perfect, probably because it seems so real (and they're still singing that crazy dialog.) This movie is not for all taste. But if you can get into it, it's magic. I've seen the movie now over 10+ times...it's sickening how it grows on you.

Bittersweet brilliance

[barnie1234 · 10/10 · 23 January 2007]

Pure cinematic joy - and that's just on a 32" TV. I would love to see this on the big screen.

Let yourself be transported by the beautiful images and music. This film is life-affirming and moving, without ever resorting to over-sentimentality. I keep hearing the main theme tune in my head and welling up inside. A haunting and beautiful experience.

*** Spoilers follow *** Guy's decision to forego an embrace with the daughter he has never seen has to be one of the most moving moments in film. It is this, rather than meeting his ex-love once more that is heart-breaking. At the same time, it indicates that Guy is the one to have truly moved on and probably ended up with the right partner too. The moment his wife and son return outside the garage is equally moving. The end is therefore uplifting and brutally crushing at the same time. Bittersweet brilliance.

I can't believed how much I loved this film

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 2 March 2005]

I still can't believe that I LOVED a film in which EVERY line of dialog was sung by the actors! When I first heard about this, I was VERY hesitant to watch, but decided to give it a shot. After all, I really like French films.

The story concerns the love between a young girl and her slightly older boyfriend who is called up for military service. Can their love survive the many obstacles in its way? --Other than that, I'd rather not reveal the plot or the twists, as I'd hate to spoil it for the reader.

Suffice to say, this is an absolutely beautiful film throughout--especially the incredible cinematography. So beautiful and engaging that I found myself in tears as the movie concluded--and the ending is one of my favorites in film history. This says a lot, as I don't usually find myself so affected by movies. Have some Kleenex handy!

Beautiful french musical

[Enchorde · 7/10 · 22 February 2019]

... with the little unusual touch that each and every line in the entire movie are sung. Indeed, there is music throughout the entire movie.

The story is a little melancholical, a loving young couple separated when the boy is sent away on a long military service. They do promise each other fidelity and that they will wait for each other (one of the recurring musical theme were later made into the song "I will wait for you"). It is rather quickly evident that they won't and the movie shows the heartache they both suffer because of it. Refreshingly there are no bad guys, it is just life that happens to them... unfortunately it is not hard to rather early know how the movie will end, but it is not the twists of the movie you watch this. It is the feelings, emotions and how it is portrayed in song that makes the movie really good.

It is a interesting, peculiar movie. In addition to the music there is an interesting use of colour, with characters sometimes almost blending into the surroundings.

Not the most spectacular movie that I wish to see over and over again, but definitely fun to have seen once.

Truly a masterpiece

[mortenkjeldgaard · 10/10 · 28 July 2010]

I saw this movie many years ago, when I was still a boy. It must have been shortly after its release, when I was 11-12 years old. I went with my best friend; the film was recommended to us by my friends mother. She talked about how the dialogue was all singing. We thought that sounded weird, but we went anyway. I remember that I was truly moved by this movie. I remember that I thought the singing dialogue was weird at first, but after a very short while, it appeared natural, and I didn't think about it anymore. I remember, that I was truly in love with the lovely Catherine Deneuve. I remember, that her choices and her fate was not wrong. It was only sad. I remember how the wonderful tune of the main character touched my heart and stayed with me ever since.

I only saw the movie again a few days ago. So many films from the 50's and 60's loose their magic when you see them again after many years. Not so with Les Parapluies de Cherbourg! The dialogue is not quaint like so often felt. Perhaps, the singing dialogue keeps it forever young. The words ring true and fresh like ever. The dilemma of love and life is present as a real and forever relevant question. The acting is subtle and discrete, underplayed almost, free of theatrical overacting and dramatization. The music is amazing.

Les Parapluis de Cherbourg is a truly timeless, moving and worthwhile masterpiece. A true gem. Watch this movie with someone you love.

A dazzling but slightly flawed jewel

[paperbackboy · 7/10 · 7 December 2001]

This film is powerfully rooted in a particular time and place (1950s France - specifically Cherbourg, during the Algerian War). At the same time, however, the director addresses universal themes of love, absence, opportunity and regret.

The glimpses of Cherbourg are tantalizing, and somehow achingly beautiful for anyone who has ever spent any time there, and the color palette is simply stunning.

Catherine Deneuve looks stunning too (she never looked quite like this again - even in the second half of the film she has already changed). The simple plot is carried along, at least in the first half, by the convincing nature of the relationship between Deneuve's character and her mechanic boyfriend.

The film is slightly spoiled, however, by the rather disjointed plot in the second half, and the lack of variation in some of the sung dialogue (in fact there are no spoken words in the entire movie). However, it is worth watching for the look alone. The best music comes in the scene at the railway station, which somehow manages to feel emotionally authentic despite being so stylized.

So watch the movie if you can. There is no other like it.

The Tears of Cherbourg...

[ElMaruecan82 · 9/10 · 4 January 2018]

Jacques Demy's "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg", Golden Palm winner of 1964, is a deliberately simple and straight-forward story sublimated by the music, I guess that's a way to put it simply.

Still, I was never in a rush to watch this film, forgive my bias but the premise of one hour and half of all-singing made me expect some syrupy nothing-specialness à la "New Wave" sauce that I couldn't take seriously. I thought I would endure the film more than experience it. And to be fair, it's hard to get used to the all singing 'gimmick' (for lack of a better word) at first and the opening make you wonder if it's not unconsciously intended as a sort of spoof but the film finds a way to set its tone, making the singing a sort of natural background, allowing you to focus more on the story.

First, there are the first notes of Michel Legrand's penetrative score (the "I Will Wait For You" theme) that started to resonate during the opening credits. I knew I heard that tune before and then it hit me, "Jurassic Bark", poor Seymour waiting for Fry... "I Will Wait For You", one of the saddest melodies ever, that was meant to be used for the saddest TV moment ever. Now, knowing that it came from Michel Legrand and that it would be the defining theme of the film made me realize that in terms of emotions, "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" 'meant business', and within the right context and served by the right lyrics, the score reached unsuspected levels of poignancy.

Secondly, when the film starts in a jazzy upbeat mood, there's an exchange between Guy, the mechanic played by Nino Castelnuovo and his friend about their plans for Friday night. The friend says he doesn't like operas, all the singing gets on his nerves, he prefers movies. What can you say after that? Such a line so early in the film can't be innocent, this is Jacques Demy's anticipating the natural resistance of some viewers, toward what can be perceived as a gimmick. Demy basically tells us that even movies can work like operas and that maybe this film can help us to consider singing as a language as adequate to film-making as facial expressions in a silent movie.

In fact, it's not exactly singing buy lip-syncing with other professional singer's voices (which is a wise choice because I can't imagine these melodies with amateur singers) but progressively, the musicality becomes such a natural aspect of the movie that any line said without any melodic intonation surprisingly rings false. The music becomes part of the background, and in total osmosis with the art-direction, the costumes, the photography. If you pay attention to the way some women's dresses always fit the patterns or colors behind, you're tempted to interpret that as a foreshadowing of their chameleonic nature, their superhuman capability to adapt to any situation or predicament in their lives.

The visual delights also lay on the depiction of Cherbourg which, depending on the season, the weather or the general mood, can be either cheerful or depressing. One day, the two lovers dance a mambo behind the red walls of a nightclub, it's red, passionate, lively, and the day after, they're in a depressing and neutrally grey train station saying goodbye to each other. Even a cute and cozy little umbrella shop can become a cold and depressing washing-machines' stores. The film is as competent in conveying emotions through visual than musical delights, but the raw core is still the romance between Guy and Geneviève played by a beautiful and young Catherine Deneuve, without it, this would have been one of these 'all flash and no substance' film. (Spoilers in Next Paragraph)

The story isn't a revolution, two young enamored people make plans for the future then comes the call of duty, they have one last night together, promise to wait for each other ignoring that the "harm is done" already and then there's the absence, the separation, and throughout her pregnancy, Geneviève is courted by a providential rich man named Roland Cassard (Marc Michel) which she finally marries, so her baby can have a father. When he's back, Guy is wounded physically before being hurt emotionally, he sinks in bitterness and alcohol before being rescued by his friend Madeleine, they marry and have a child. Finally, a few years after, the former lovers meet in an Esso station and the film concludes with the right notes of realism, foreshadowed by Genevieve's mother (Anne Vernon) who said that times fix everything and only in movies, people die from love.

If I wasn't so emotionally overwhelmed by that ending and how daring it was to contradict the then-romantic tropes, I would have kept thinking of a certain movie that almost won Best Picture last year. I just wish I saw Demy's "Umbrellas" before Damien Chazelle's "La La Land". Now I know where he got the inspiration, it's all to his credit to revive the magic of this classic for a contemporary tale, but now I see the ending less as a masterstroke of originality than a well made homage to Jacques Demy. The last time I had a similar regret is when I discovered Fellini after Kusturica's "Undeground", another Golden Palm winner.

So, what I loved about "The Umbrellas of Cherboug" is how misleading it actually is, these jazzy musical interludes, the playful way characters recite their lines by singing, you wouldn't believe this film would be so dark and so realistically bold, dealing with pregnancy, financial problems, not much war traumas than the disillusion of homecoming soldiers and of course, broken hearts. It's like a strawberry-flavor candy with a lemon bittersweet taste in the end. The film is well-made, well-edited, and well-written. Of course, the singing can get on people's heads but hey, the film is one hour and twenty something minutes long, it's not too much patience demanding.

And the final minutes will reward your patience anyway, listening to it, I know why Michel's name is Legrand.

Charming (At First)

[AdamMitchyCat · 6/10 · 1 April 2015]

When this movie began, I was madly in love with it. I loved the colors and the cinematography and the opening titles and everything about the first sequence. And then we meet the characters, and we are charmed by their voices and how adorable the movie is, and the entire film keeps you invested. I was really into it until the last 20 minutes when the charm sort of wore itself off after a while. And that is NOT saying that the ending is bad, it isn't; it's just that this film might be a little longer than it needs to be. But the beautiful colors and glamor of the actors make this movie enjoyable, and the music is very nice to listen to. It sort of is like a modern day (well, 1960s) opera. No words are spoken; they are just sung. And it works, and the characters are interesting and the scenario is interesting. It's just that as it god near the end, I was looking at my watch a little more and more. It is worth checking out, and it is adorable, and it is a piece of film history. It's a wonderful experience that I think I could enjoy once, but not again after that.

I'm sorry, but no

[counterrevolutionary · 3/10 · 17 September 2007]

Imagine that one day, people just start singing at you -- not singing songs or hymns or arias, but just pointlessly warbling everything they have to say, from "Good morning" to "You want fries with that?" How long do you think it would take before you slapped someone across the face and screamed, "STOP SINGING! Talk like a normal human being!" For me, it would take about twenty minutes. And that's what I learned from *The Umbrellas of Cherbourg*.

The music seems primarily to serve the purpose of stretching a fairly thin plot across ninety minutes of screen time. In a real musical, with good songs and dancing, this can actually work (see, e.g., *Singin' in the Rain* and *On the Town*). But this isn't a real musical, more's the pity.

Apart from the cinematography (and even that gets cloying by the end) and the opening title sequence (which is truly wonderful), I honestly can't see what so many people see in this film.