Review of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) by Jenny G — 17 Jun 2007

What a unique musical! Every line sung from beginning to end, this film crosses an almost invisible line from spoken dialogue to this crazy wonderland in which people sing, sing and sing, even in the most tragic moments. It took me about five minutes to transition from regular spoken standards to this never ending melody in which this film becomes.

The coloration of this movie is so artistically engaging; every image you see could be framed and put up on a wall. Visually delightful, is not a fairy tale (although at the beginning it might be wrongly assumed) but on the contrary a very dramatic story. Sixteen-year old Genevieve, Catherine Deneuve, falls in love with Guy a 20-year old auto mechanic who is drafted for the Algerian war and finds himslef forced to leave his love. From then on we see how this apparently perfect love story (from 16-year old Genevieve's point of view) becomes threatened by the real issues of adulthood: maturity, timing, being able to wait, broken hearts... and we find out how true this love was.

Amazing film, brilliantly directed by Jacques Demy, it touched me by it's contrasts, and shows the truth in the Bible verses: "Love is long-suffering and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, does not get puffed up, does not behave indecently, DOES NOT LOOK FOR ITS OWN INTERESTS, does not become provoked. It does not keep account of the injury. It does not rejoice over unrightousness, but rejoices with the truth. IT BEARS ALL THINGS, BELIEVES ALL THINGS, HOPES ALL THINGS, ENDURES ALL THINGS". I guess Genvieve, never read this scripture.