Film Forum

France, 1964
Written and Directed by Jacques Demy
With Catherine Deneuve, Anne Vernon, Nino Castelnuovo, Marc Michel
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

“Elevates the quotidian to the spectacular…UMBRELLAS’ palette of sherbet-colored pastels remains undimmed.”
– Melissa Anderson, Village Voice