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The Criterion Channel Presents: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)


The Umbrellas of Cherbourg might be the first French New Wave film I’ve seen that is legitimately uplifting. I mean it’s ultimately not a happy movie (though neither a sad one), it’s story being that of a failed long-distance relationship, but it’s so far from the ennui and cynicism that often seems to pervade the movies of writer-director Jacques Demy’s contemporaries, Truffault or Goddard. This is a rich and visually jovial film shot in glorious technicolour against marvellous set decoration and lighting techniques clearly inspired by, yet eclipsing the style of classical Hollywood musicals.
To be inspired by Hollywood it seems was something of a taboo in European cinema at the time, where fewer artistic and corporate limitations meant greater intellectual freedom that the auteur movement delighted in taking advantage of. But Demy seems to have taken pride in borrowing American aesthetics, yet filtering them distinctly through a heightened look and atmosphere and a narrative all his own. And it really is wonderful!
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg follows the whirlwind romance of a pair of young lovers, Geneviève (Catherine Deneuve) and Guy (Nino Castelnuovo), disapproved of particularly by her mother (Anne Vernon) and interrupted when he is drafted into the Algerian War. The story is split into three parts: The Departure -chronicling their time together in Cherbourg up to his leave, The Absence -focussed on Geneviève’s life and choices without him as the letters come less frequently and she discovers she’s pregnant, and The Return -depicting Guy’s homecoming and reaction to Geneviève having moved on. It all amounts to a superbly moving and bitterly honest portrayal of a war-time romance. As much as melodramas prefer to tend that way, not every Odysseus comes home from war to a loyal and waiting Penelope -sometimes she has to move on. It’s still rather unfortunate, especially given just how well both Deneuve and Castelnuovo play their parts. Deneuve especially is radiant in this role that launched her to stardom; beautiful, graceful, and so achingly in love that you can’t help but feel her pain. It’s nothing short of a tragedy when she settles for Marc Michel’s Roland -though not for him, considering he’d lost his last love in Demy’s previous film Lola, reiterated here and forming a neat little cinematic universe for the director.
But doubtless the most captivating element of the movie is its’ music by the legendary Michel Legrand. Though considered a musical, the film is really more of an opera, having no individual songs, but rather a sung-through format that excludes not even the most innocuous of dialogue -on the contrary, Demy and Legrand take delight in having throwaway characters enter the scene for no discernible purpose to sing a wholly unnecessary line. But it’s amazing how quickly you become accustomed to it, and the music itself is so lovely and sincere. The most notable leitmotif “Devant la garage”, translated in the English world to “I Will Wait for You” has to be among the most beautifully melancholy love songs ever written -and I of course know it best as the underscore for arguably the most heartbreaking scene of Futurama. But the ending of the movie isn’t necessarily heartbreaking -both have found happiness in their own lives without the other. It’s merely the loss of what might have been. I admire Demy for that, for making a movie that’s a tribute to Hollywood romantic grandeur with a story Hollywood would never themselves have made.

Criterion Recommendation: Our Little Sister (2015)
As good as Still Walking is, it’s high time another Hirokazu Kore-eda movie was added to the collection, and as much as Shoplifters is the obvious answer, I would also offer up his 2015 drama Our Little Sister for consideration. It’s the humble story of three adult sisters who take in their teenage half-sibling after their fathers’ death and the dynamics and nuances of their relationships. Even among Kore-eda’s movies, it astoundingly immerses you in its pretty world, the everyday life and personalities of each of the sisters, and the performances are impossible not to fall in love with (particularly from Haruka Ayase and Suzu Hirose).Though for as cute as it is, it’s not bereft of real stakes or issues -the conflicts that do arise come out with a stirring naturalism. One of the most charming and heartwarming movies I’ve seen in recent years without a doubt!

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