Festival de Cannes Review: Les Parapluies de Cherbourg / The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

Grand Prix du Festival International du Film – Jacques Demy

Prix de la Commission Supérieure Technique

OCIC Award

Snuggled warmly between Lola (1961) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg sits blissfully in the middle of Jacques Demy‘s romantic threesome. And blissful in film-absorbing experience, for the content and tone of Umbrellas is as true a love arrow that ever shattered one’s heart.

Sure, romantic films crave a happy ending, they are largely defined by them. A little bit of a fairytale, little bit magical, but very, very real. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a grounded love story. Full to the brim with the aches, the pains, as well as the butterfly stomachs and first jitters of attraction. Even the vivid enhancement of the architecture, only lifts you temporarily from the sorrowful landscape.

“The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is not essentially a film musical made up of songs, there is a far more operatic flow.”

Jacques Demy, creating his opus here, was not shy in admitting his amourous admiration for the Hollywood musicals. That said, he wanted to have unity in a musical. Not just jumping from a story, to a song here and there, dance numbers thrown in separately.

With the help of the legendary French composer, Michel Legrand, they worked on the fluidity of the singing against the script’s dialogue. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is not essentially a film musical made up of songs, there is a far more operatic flow. “I don’t like operas, movies are better.” one character says early on. Demy achieves both.

A triple winner at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival, including the coveted Palme D’or. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg also competed in two consecutive Academy Awards. Eligible for Best Foreign Language Film in 1964, then nominated Best Song, Best Original Score, Best Scoring – Adaptation or Treatment, and Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen in 1965. With his third feature, after Lola and Bay of Angels, Demy was a force to be reckoned with outside of France.

This was also the first of four films in which Demy would work with Catherine Deneuve. Bright-eyes and bushy-tailed, the young French actress was also about to embark on a remarkable career. Demy talked Deneuve to lose her beehive fringe, and for the eyes of cinema-goers, was a sight of multi-layered beauty.

And with that, came the rendition of colour across the board. Costumes matching the decor in some scenes. A visual feast in all its turbulent romantic endeavours. Incorporating the kind of pop art ambiance that the likes of Michaelangelo Antonioni and Jean-Luc Godard were freshly experimenting with. Jacques Demy’s wife, the great Agnes Varda, restored the film after his death in 1990.

“The jazz through-line of the amazing score inspired a whole new journey of the music’s genre.”

The jazz through-line of the amazing score inspired a whole new journey of the music’s genre. And a certain Damien Chazelle was clearly smitten by this when he made La La Land. And beyond the immeasurable music, it is tough to gauge the level of difficulty in syncing the music and the songs with the actors. Not just their mouth movements, but where they were in the scene, their general actions. A phenomenal feat in dubbing and sound mixing.

The camera’s casual swagger is immaculate, movement so subtle, and extracting every drop of narrative juice it needs to. Just look at the wonderfully choreographed opening title sequence. From a wide shot of rather drab-looking harbor, we nod down to the cobbled pathway. From there, falling rain, and various umbrella-clad people going to and fro.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg shares its name with the quaint little shop which Madame Emery and her teenage daughter, Geneviève (Deneuve), run. Geneviève and local mechanic, Guy (Nino Castelnuovo), are in love. The first act is crammed with the flourish of first love. From the moment Geneviève runs out the shop to greet him, right through to when Guy has to leave after being drafted to war.

One of the central themes of the film, that of being alone, the solitude, is abstractly represented by, and a reflection of, the Algerian war. Oh how many were separated, in one way or another. The Algerian war actually ended in 1962, a year before the film was made.

“The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, though, is a wondrous, enchanting love story because of how the journey closes out.”

“Why is absence so hard to bear?” Geneviève sings so candidly at one moment. If you’ve ever watched someone you love, leave on a train, or an airplane, not knowing exactly when you will see them again. If you will see them again. The unfathomable pain that comes with it, breeds an unrelenting form of isolation. The loneliness aspect is introduced early on, through Guy’s aunt – another poignant sub-plot.

The film is broken into three chapters – Departure, Absence, Return – to portray those dynamics of such woes. As Geneviève frets over the little contact she has had with Guy, her mother is eager to match-make her with wealthy man, Roland (Marc Michel). The very same character from Lola. And when he speaks of Lola, Jacques Demy cuts to the empty mall from the very film.

The final act takes us to a snowy night, some time later. Guy and Geneviève meet again, but with so much water having drifted by and under the bridge, they both have moved on. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, though, is a wondrous, enchanting love story because of how the journey closes out. Demy challenges his audience to be enraptured by a tale as old as time, but as true as that which we know now. And, honestly, we have little choice to abstain.