The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, 1964)

Starring Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo

Written and directed by Jacques Demy

2006/04/02: We are happy to add to our list of A Plus Movies Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. When we saw this two years ago at the Castro we were impressed by Demy's grown-up view of youthful romance, but were afraid overanalysis might reveal the construction as insubstantial. What struck us upon a second viewing at the PFA last night (on a magnificent double bill with Jacquot) was the music. We already knew Michel Legrand's score ranked up there with Delerue's for Jules & Jim (though we don't really care for film scores). But we hadn't noticed how conversational the libretto was. This is a musical that's all recitative -- even the memorable Geneviève/Guy duets have the same diction as the rest of the singing -- and yet doesn't feel forced: the words are arranged around the melody without contortion. One of our betters claimed this was possible because French speech is formal. We can't verify this, but note that in English this degree of ease is only accessible to megatalents of the order of Sinatra and Jay-Z; in Umbrellas, it's achieved by most of the near-anonymous singers who dub the stars. This doesn't negate the achievement of Demy and Legrand: the attempt of a friend of Bizet's to add recitative to Carmen is regarded as a train wreck. Demy and Legrand, on their part, reveal there's art in everyday speech and everyday love -- in France, anyway.

A PLUS