Film Forum

France, 1964
Directed by Jacques Demy
Starring Catherine Deneuve, Anne Vernon, Nino Castelnuovo, Marc Michel
Screenplay by Jacques Demy
DCP. Approx. 91 min.

Rain splashes on cobblestone streets, multi-colored parapluies pop up against pastel walls, and adorent lovers rendezvous, while music fills the air. Nothing like Jacques Demy’s 1964 musical fantasy had ever been seen before — or has since — as Bernard Evein’s color-splashed production design and Demy’s own artistry transformed the actual rues de Cherbourg, on which Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castellnuovo meet, into the most ethereal of creations; while every line of dialogue, from mundane car mechanics’ jargon to the transcendence of young lovers’ impassioned “I Will Wait For You” vows, is sung to Michel Legrand’s now-classic score.

This jeu d’espirit of the French New Wave wedded the movement’s stylistic innovations to the worlds of internationally famous; took the top prize and Best Actress award at Cannes; garnered five Oscar nominations; and in its overwhelming romanticism, capped by a snow-blanketed Christmas climax at an Esso station, reduced packed houses around the world to bittersweet tears.

Reviews

“Charm may be in the eye of the beholder, but if you don't find this movie irresistible,
you should get your eyesight checked.”
– Adam Nayman, The Ringer