The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Year: 1964
Director: Jacques Demy
Country: France
Language: French

The most beautiful of all film genres is the musical, certainly they are more fantastical and mythological. When an actor like Gene Kelly bursts into song and dances to his heart's desires a tremendous fury of emotion throbs across the screen. The musical is passionate and, at times, can be more life affirming than any other genre. Alhough there have been flops (Les Miserables), when a musical has been done right it can sweep you off your feet and make you forget about all your troubles. French Director Jacques Demy knows how to make a great musical.

Told in four acts, the lives of Geneviève Emery (Catherine Deneuve) and Guy Foucher (Nino Castelnuovo) of Cherbourg France are presented. They both wish to get married, but Guy must go off to war before the decision is made.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg speaks closer to human nature than most movie musicals. Demy resists the urge to pull off extravagant musical numbers, rather the movie flows through an uninterrupted dialogue of singing. The wall-to-wall score is hypnotic and entrancing, Eventually one forgets how unusual this is. It evokes both first love and first heartache, it is a bittersweet picture that takes place outside of reality. Demy's universe fuses the commonplace with the cinematically heightened, it's absolutely captivating.

The movie is as original and colourful today as it was sixty years ago. Catherine Deneuve is a remarkable French actress, it is clear that she worked hard on the film and succeeded in making her character believable. Demy seemed to reach his peak with Umbrellas, as none of his other films could ever reach the popularity that this one did. I appreciate the maturity, honesty and magic throughout the film.

In conclusion, though French musicals are somewhat frustrating for an English speaker as one cannot sing along to the wonderful lyrics, Umbrellas of Cherboug is a must see for a tremendous amount of reasons. While it is not my favourite Demy, which is The Young Girls of Rocheforte, it certainly is spectacular. Praise it! 5/5