Starring Catherine Denueve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon, and Marc Michel
Directed by Jacques Demy
Music by Michel Legrand; Lyrics by Jacques Demy
This week, we take a holiday trip to France in the 1960's with our first two reviews. Umbrellas was Demy's third film and first of three musicals. He made copious use of the new Eastman color stock to turn the real-life French town of Cherbourg into a riot of color, light, and shadows, giving the story of two young lovers parted by fate and circumstance a melancholy fairy-tale feel. How does the story of a mechanic and the daughter of the owner of the title shop look now? Let's begin with bright umbrellas in the rain showing off those eye-catching primary colors and find out...
The Story: Genevieve Emery (Denueve) is passionately in love with Guy Foucher (Castelnuovo), a mechanic in Cherboug. Her mother Madame Emery (Vernon) believes they're too young to wed, as Genevieve is only 17. Guy lives with his aging Aunt Elise (Mirrelle Perrey) and her caretaker Madeline (Ellen Farner), who has a crush on him. Genevieve is devastated when Guy is called to the Algerian War. She writes him constantly, but after a while, his letters become fewer. Her mother finally convinces her to wed handsome young diamond merchant Roland Cassard (Michel) after they discover she's pregnant.
Meanwhile, Guy returns home from the war and takes to drinking after he learns his beloved has married another and his aunt has died. Madeline is happy to be there for him and to take care of him. Even though their lives eventually take very different paths, when they encounter each other again one cold, snowy Christmas night, Guy and Genevieve can't help but wonder what would have had happened if things were different...
The Song and Dance: This is one of the most breathtaking musical films I've ever seen. Bless everyone who restored the Eastman color negatives, because they did a sensational job. The color almost literally pops off the screen, blasts of scarlet, shocking pink, olive green, and robin's egg blue. Genevieve and Guy wander through a fairy tale France where umbrellas come in every color of the rainbow, Christmas Eve is pure white, and even little shops and gas stations are a riot of primary hues. The performances are magnificent, too, despite everyone being dubbed. Denveuve is so radiant and heartbreaking, she became an international star after her performance here. Castelnuovo and Vernon nearly match her as her adored mechanic sweetheart with big ambitions and her mother who just wants to see her and the shop taken care of.
The Numbers: This is more-or-less an opera. Every note is sung-through, making it hard to separate songs the way you would for a regular musical. Two songs in particular became standards. "Recit De Cassard," Roland's solo when he's explaining his difficulty courting women to Genevieve and her mother, would be translated into English as "Watch What Happens." Guy and Genevieve's theme that runs throughout their numbers became the Oscar-nominated "I Will Wait for You" in English.
Trivia: The building that stood in for the umbrella shop still exists in Cherbourg today. It's currently marked with a plaque that commemorates the film.
When Roland Cassard tells Madame Emory he once loved a woman named Lola, he's referring to Demy's previous comedy Lola, where Michel played the same character.
Madame Demy wasn't kidding when she referred to how young Genevieve was. Denveuve was only 19 during filming.
What I Don't Like: First of all, the English-language dub for this is extremely rare today. If you don't speak French or aren't willing to use subtitles, you may have a hard time with the lyrics. Second, this is not a feel-good musical. It's a bittersweet melodrama with a relatively unhappy ending. If you're not in the mood for a sad love story, this isn't for you, no matter how pretty it is to look at.
The Big Finale: One of the most exquisitely gorgeous musical films ever created. Highly recommended for musical lovers, romantics, fans of the French New Wave, and those who either speak French, have a passing acquaintance with the language like me, or are willing to use subtitles.
Home Media: Easily found on disc and streaming. The Blu-Ray is from the Criterion Collection, and even the DVD (which I've seen) has a marvelous transfer.
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