Film Forum

France, 1967
Directed by Jacques Demy
Starring Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Dorléac, Jacques Perrin, Michel Piccoli, Gene Kelly
In French with English subtitles
Approx. 126 min.

Real-life sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac are music-teaching twins whose dream is to blow Nantes and find love; dancers in the upcoming fair George Chakiris (WEST SIDE STORY) and Grover Dale need new partners; their mother Danielle Darrieux mourns lost love Michel Piccoli, who has returned, and awaits colleague Gene Kelly; while poet/painter and about-to-be discharged sailor Jacques Perrin dreams of an ideal, whose portrait resembles Deneuve. Do they all meet? Some actual dialogue, but mainly non-stop singing and dancing through the sunny streets of the port.

Presented with support from The George Fasel Memorial Fund for Classic French Cinema and The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation Fund

Reviews

“Ghislain Cloquet’s photography brings a sun-white glow to Rochefort’s exceptionally picturesque town square and cobbled streets; the entire film is an exemplary of Demy’s love for life and his personal experiment with the dancing cinema.”
– Albert Johnson, Film Quarterly

“Gorgeously restored by Agnès Varda, THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT magically mixes the glee of Hollywood musicals with Demy’s particularly French sensibility... The world of ROCHEFORT is a rapturous, pastel-hued world of dreams; of love lost, found and hoped for; of yearning to leave behind provincial life for the big city.”
– Melissa Anderson, The New York Times

“A delight! Any opportunity to see it with an appreciative audience should be grabbed.”
– Mike D’Angelo, The Village Voice