In 1964, Jacques Demy did one thing unconventionally standard for the French New Wave — he made a romantic film musical. Solely 33 on the time, the director added a twist: all of the dialogue, nonetheless banal, could be sung, and by actors with nice however audibly beginner vocals. Named for the umbrella store through which the movie’s heroine, Geneviève (Catherine Deneuve), works along with her mom (Anne Vernon), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg was a success across the globe, launching Deneuve into the galaxy of worldwide stardom and Demy into fashionable renown he would by no means once more expertise earlier than his premature demise of AIDS-related sickness in 1990.
Now restored to 4k decision, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is just some of the brain-quiveringly lovely movies ever to flood a display: a hyper-saturated, hyper-feminine deluge of coloration, texture, and line. Greta Gerwig cited the film as a key affect for Barbie; Damien Chazelle stated the identical for La La Land.
Nino Castelnuovo as Man and Catherine Deneuve as Geneviéve Emery in Jacques Demy’s Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Twenty years in the past I noticed Umbrellas for the primary time at an arthouse cinema in Nashville, after it was initially restored beneath the steering of Demy’s widow, acclaimed movie auteur Agnès Varda. The 2024 restoration, supervised by their son, Mathieu Demy, makes the macaron visuals all of the extra decadent. Not like most film musicals previous and current, it isn’t anchored by an enormous ensemble forged, elaborate dance numbers, extravagant units, or standout vocals. Umbrellas is unapologetically image- and story-driven, with a lush rating from Michel Legrand, whose leitmotif, “I Will Wait for You,” will hang-out you by the top — an finish that’s, regardless of the movie’s Sweet Crush palette, achingly bittersweet. In Demy’s Technicolor universe, even the petite bourgeoise have cause to sing.
The primary shot — of Cherbourg’s humble port — is over two minutes lengthy, the digital camera craning down at worn cobblestone as rain falls upon it. The umbrellas of sundry passersby, together with the title credit, gesture to the tricolor flag, one in every of many reminders that it is a French movie. Till Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie in 2001, it might be essentially the most conspicuously French movie to turn into a world hit. And like Amelie, the delectable mise-en-scène usually distracts from the plot. Not like Jeunet’s movie, although, the setting isn’t Paris, however a delivery city largely identified for a key battle throughout World Warfare II.
Catherine Deneuve as Geneviéve Emery in Jacques Demy’s Umbrellas of Cherbourg
A basic story of affection and loss, Umbrellas is simply as a lot about luxurious coloration. Much less clearly, it’s a movie about class. The male lead, Man (Nino Castelnuovo), works as an auto mechanic, the (distinctly French) kind to brag to the fellows on the storage that he’s ditching a sports activities match to see Carmen on the theater with Geneviève. Movie depictions of blue-collar canoodlers typically undertake a reasonably dreary coloration scheme, as if their romantic infatuations actually pale compared to these of their blue-blooded friends. However in Umbrellas, Geneviève and Man stroll the port in complementary pink and blue apparel.
“I think only of you, and now you’ll wait for me,” Man proclaims in one of many movie’s many superlative refrains. Geneviève doesn’t wait, in fact, however for causes that appear extra justified the older I get. Umbrellas doesn’t patronize its younger lovers, regardless of how melodramatic their declarations; it honors the depth, nonetheless fleeting, of the earth-shattering stakes of their bond.
“Maybe happiness makes me sad,” says Man’s ailing godmother when she realizes he’s in love. In French, the phrase for crying, pleurer, is only a few letters away from pleuvoir, which suggests “to rain.” Umbrellas is a wonderful reminder that falling in love, nonetheless heavenly, can go away us in tears that really feel despatched from the sky. It is usually a reminder that movie, arguably essentially the most pivotal type of visible media within the twentieth century, can nonetheless transfix within the twenty first — particularly skilled on a giant display bursting with colours you would eat.
Catherine Deneuve as Geneviéve Emery and Nino Castelnuovo as Man in Jacques Demy’s Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Catherine Deneuve as Geneviéve Emery in Jacques Demy’s Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Catherine Deneuve as Geneviéve Emery and Nino Castelnuovo as Man in Jacques Demy’s Umbrellas of Cherbourg
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg screens on the Movie Discussion board (209 West Houston Avenue, Greenwich Village, Manhattan) December 10–12 and 20.