Tag: Jacques Demy

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg)

Posted on by victorfraga

The BFI are featuring a season of musicals on film which continues to January 2020. One immediately thinks of the great Ginger Roger/ Fred Astaire song and dance Hollywood musicals of the 1930s. These were followed by those of the 1940s and 1950s dominated by Gene Kelly who worked so successfully with Stanley Donen to create a series of outstanding movies – On the Town (1949), and Singing in the Rain (1952) among them.

However, there is a lesser known gem of the French cinema in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg directed by Jacques Demy, a director associated with the French New Wave. It was released in 1964 and won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in the same year. Now, after all these years, it is still distinguished by all the dialogue being sung by the characters. The film was the joint creation of Demy as director and Michel Legrand. The sung dialogue seamlessly unfolded the poignant tale of the course of young love. The combination of sung dialogue and beautiful backgrounds lends itself to creating an unique nostalgic quality; the theme tune is haunting and reflects the tone of the bitter sweet relationship between the lovers.

I saw The Umbrellas of Chebourg when it first came out in the 1960s. It contrasted completely with the song and dance musicals produced by Hollywood which were fast and full of movement. However, so much was changing with the French New Wave, one just enjoyed the originality of the sung dialogue and the provincial setting of the story. It was a departure from what one was used to but a delightful glimpse into French culture. Seeing it now, one is almost overwhelmed by the colour, the carefully co-ordinated and constructed interiors and the realistic filming in dark, wet cobbled streets. It still retains a magical quality with something of a fairy tale in its gorgeous use of coordinated colour, the simplicity of the story and the haunting melodies.

Earlier in 1961 Demy had directed another now almost forgotten film, Lola, which was much appreciated at the time with Anouk Aimée as the central character. For those interested in film, it provides an excellent preparation for The Umbrellas – the music shares certain themes as does the story and provides a link to the back story of the diamond merchant in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

Demy supports the sequence of events by dividing the narrative into three parts starting with Departure, followed by Absence with the concluding Return. The story begins with an engaging young couple, Guy and Geneviève who are very much in love. Their total absorption with each other adds a new dimension to their mundane lives; each living with family in a port seemingly largely populated by French sailors. The hoped for future of marriage with children is disrupted by Guy being drafted to serve abroad in the army for two years.

While the story line is very much of its period – a couple separated by the Algerian War, with the forlorn girl facing pregnancy without the face-saving possibility of marriage and its economic security – the poignancy of the situation is as powerful as ever. Geneviève’s predicament is beautifully realised with her gradual recognition of the difficulty of sustaining a powerful relationship at a distance.

The final part depicts the challenges experienced by Guy on his return to Cherbourg as a veteran of the war in Algeria. While reflecting on his earlier life with Geneviève, he gradually realises he needs to establish a new life for himself. Rain sunshine and snow all reflect the mood of the characters. Many images and themes are repeated – the Mercedes car brings Geneviève back to Cherbourg where there is a bitter sweet reunion. Not a Hollywood happy ever after resolution but perhaps one with which we can all recognise and identify.

It is stunning to see the beautiful Catherine Deneuve as a 20-year-old at the beginning of a lifelong career. The supporting actors are equally strong in conveying the poignancy of the situation and the working port of Cherbourg creates the gritty realism of every-day life. Much to be recommended – a truly memorable film.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is back in cinemas on Friday, December 6th

The dirty movie that changed my life: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Posted on by victorfraga

I am now a strong and resolute woman in her forties, but back in 1997 I was barely 20 years of age. I was as vulnerable and gullible as one can be. I had married my first boyfriend James*, who turned out to be psychologically and financially abusive. He was basically a nasty control freak. We got married when I was just 19. Despite his manipulative behaviour, it never seemed like I would be able to find another love. He was also kind and loving at times, and that’s all that seemed to matter to me.

Yet somehow I summoned the courage to file a divorce. But that was just the beginning of the end. The battle got ugly, very ugly, but that’s all you need to know. It isn’t necessary to go into the details. Plus, shortly I submitted the paperwork, I found out I was two months pregnant. Had I made a mistake? Was this a sign that James was the right husband for me? Should I turn things around and make up with “the man of my life”? How could I go on without him and yet with his child inside my womb? The answers right now are as easy as apple pie now, but back then they weren’t as straightforward.

The final answer came one Sunday afternoon when I went to the Everyman Cinema in Hampstead. That’s before it was refurbished. It was a charming repertoire cinema where they showed all sorts of old movies. Double bills, triple bills, all for a fiver. Yes, there were mice running past. But so what? It was so cosy and homely. I was devastated when they shut it down the following year for a major make-over. Yet I was lucky enough to watch Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) shortly before it shut down for the works. It was the final sequence of the movie that gave me the strength to proceed with the divorce.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg isn’t a film about an abusive relationship. It tells the story of 16-year-old Geneviève (played by a dazzling Catherine Deneuve, in her breakthrough role) who runs a small umbrella boutique with her mother in the coastal town of Cherbourg (in Normandy). She falls in love with the handsome car mechanic Guy (Nino Castelnuevo). But Guy is drafted to serve in the Algerian War, and their future is uncertain. They pledge make a pledge of unconditional love before he departs, and Geneviève becomes pregnant. Reuniting with her lover seems to be the only way forward, until the final sequence of the film challenges the orthodox notions of eternal love.

Move the clock many years forward. Geneviève returns to Cherbourg with a young girl in the passenger seat of her car, who happens to be her child with Guy. She stops at a petrol station in order to fuel her vehicle, where she accidentally bumps into Guy, who happens to work there. They have a very short conversation inside the station store, while their daughter waits inside the car. Geneviève asks him whether he wants to see his daughter for the first time. He turns the offer down. Geneviève returns to the car and drives off. It all looks like doom and gloom. It’s impossible to get over unrequited love, particularly if there’s a child involved. The pain is insurmountable.

In a split second, however, the movie and my life changed. Literally in a split second: just watch the extract below, at 5:59. Moments after Geneviève drives off, Michel Legrand’s magnificent I Will Wait for You explodes into the speakers and Guy’s wife and child arrive. He embraces them. Happiness is to be found despite the unrequited love. Despite the baby. Incidentally, the iconic French composer Legrand passed away two months ago at the age of 85.

Geneviève’s story and mine are very different. In my case, my husband was mean to me. In her case, the circumstances (the war, the forced separation) were mean to her. What we both had in common is that we both loved our men profoundly and couldn’t see life beyond that. And that we had a baby. In both cases, life moved on and happiness prevailed. That baby is now 21 years of age and she’s expecting a baby herself. I couldn’t be happier!

* All names in this article have been changed, in accordance to the wishes of the writer.

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