Review of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) by Carlos M — 22 Oct 2017

I wanted so desperately to love The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, particularly because I had such a fondness for The Young Girls of Rochefort from the same writer/director. Sadly, this movie did not work for me.

The story is kind of depressing, and it is not all that original. The young lovers who must decide if their love can stand the test of time and distance, is a really old story structure (and frankly not one of my favorites.

) I simply wasn?t enjoying the way things unfolded, and I knew what it was all leading to long before the ending arrived. The one chance this movie had to elevate itself above its story is the fact that it was a musical, which I should love.

Unfortunately, I cannot fathom why this was musical. There weren?t memorable or distinctive melodies. The dialogue wasn?t lyrical to my ear at all. As far as that goes, I?m willing to accept that something might have been lost in translation since they?re singing in French, but it felt so clunky.

It almost came across like Jacques Demy just wrote a script intending it to be spoken, and then told the actors to make up a tune so they could sing their lines, and then figured out some orchestration to go with it later.

Nothing clicked to make this feel like a musical, and after awhile I stopped even thinking of it that way and simply read the subtitles in my head as if they were spoken. I wouldn?t say that The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a bad or unappealing film, but it was completely ineffective for me.

But I must admit, Demy has an eye for gorgeous visuals, so if nothing else at least I was able to enjoy the fact that this is a beautiful movie to look at.