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Les Parapluies de Cherbourg

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Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) is a musical film made in 1964. It was directed by Jacques Demy, and starred Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo. The music was written by Michel Legrand.

The film is unusual in that literally all the dialogue is sung, even the most casual of conversation.

Contents

Synopsis

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Madame Emery and her daughter Geneviève (Deneuve) sell umbrellas at their little boutique in coastal Cherbourg Normandy. Blond beauty, Geneviève is in love with Guy (Castelnuovo), a handsome young auto mechanic who cares for his great-aunt along with quiet,dedicated, care-giver, Madeleine (Ellen Farner), a young woman who clearly loves Guy. Subsequently, though, Guy is drafted, and must leave to fight in the Algerian War and seldom writes to his love. Months later, Geneviève is pregnant, lovelorn and feeling forgotten. At her mother's insistence, she marries thirtyish, Roland Cassard (Marc Michel),a quietly handsome Parisian jeweller who falls in love with Geneviève and is willing to wed the younger girl, even though she is bearing another man's child. The society wedding in a great cathedral, with a tiara being placed on the bride's head, symbolizes her upward social and economic movement.

When Guy returns, with a leg injury, from the army and the war, he learns that Geneviève has married, left Cherbourg and that the umbrella store is utterly gone. He attempts to ease back into his old life, but becomes rebellious due both to the war and to the loss of Geneviève. One day, Guy quits his job after an argument with his boss, and spends a night,and a day, drinking excessively in seedy port bars. He winds up sleeping with a prostitute named Jenny, whose real name turns out to be also Geneviève. When he returns to his apartment, Madeleine tells him tearfully that his great-aunt has died. Eventually, Madeleine's love is recognized by Guy. who cleans up his life, with her encouragement. With a legacy from his aunt, he is able to finance to own a new "american style" Esso gas station. He asks Madelein to marry him, and she accepts, very happily.

The coda is set in December 1963, approximately five years after the earliest events. Guy is now managing the couple's Esso station. He's with his now upbeat, and loving wife, Madeleine, and their little son François. It is Christmas Eve at the new business location. Madeleine and François go for a short walk,leaving Guy briefly; after which, a new Mercedes pulls in to the station. The mink-clad driver turns out to be a sophisticated, visibly wealthy Geneviève, accompanied by her (and Guy's) daughter, Françoise. who remains in the warm car.

They go inside, at first shocked to see each other, and Geneviève explains this is the first time she has returned to Cherbourg since her marriage. Her fairly young mother is now dead. She has only her rich husband and child in her family life. The two converse while Geneviève's car is being filled with gas, and Geneviève asks Guy if he wants to meet their daughter. Without comment, and little reflection, he answers " no", and this leads to their exchanging their final goodbyes.Geneviève drives off, leaving tire tracks in a thin layer of snow on the pavement. A potential, family destroying crisis, has passed and gone forever. We now see Madeleine and François returning to the front of the station where the tire tracks remain. Guy plays happily, in a young-daddylike way, with his child, then begins to hug them both in a pull-back to a Christmas card-ish, holiday tableaux, ending with downward falling snow, much like the rainy, opening title sequence. The music underscores the final beautiful effect until fade out. This ending can be taken by some, in a (pessimistic) sense, as the conclusion of a tale of two people settling comfortably for a second best life scenario. But most audiences, have recognized the probable intent of the film marker (J.Demy), to show a fomerly love-scarred person finding deep fulfillment,after releasing his youthful, naive, memories of his first love and her singular outward beauty. It doesn't hurt the acceptability of the outcome, that the actual wife is also very beautiful, just,in a sensual and more subtle way. She seems totally right for Guy, better grounded, and profoundly physical as a life partner. It is paradoxical that the story is so true to actual life situations,( no unsympathetic characters needed, in the entire story), even the jeweler is well intended. Yet the story unfolds, end to end,in singing. Each of the lovers has reached a higher social level, yet the social gulf that had existed,is now even more visible. Geneviève has become almost "queenly" but slightly saddened by her new life. Deep love has evolved for Guy and Madelein, and though not Guy's original choice, it now feels very right ! The film has stood the test of time, and is recognized by many,to be one of the most affirmative "marriage themed" romantic films ever created. It celebrates the precious value of a thoughtful woman's love and influence, to build truly happy marriage. The non-verbal, visual conclusion is triumphant. (Ironically, it is a pure,artful, insightful, pro-marriage, cinematic statement, from a openly gay director, (Jacques Demy) who died from complications of HIV, twenty five years later.)

Legrand's music with Demy's lyrics are a \"minimalist\" form of Opera

It is a singular feature of the film that it never resorts to ordinary speech. Even the gas station helper asks in song about a choice of fuel: "Super or ordinair"? Meaningful dialogue conversations always are sung... nobody ever speaks and no chereography is executed, save realistic background dancing in the bar scene. Instead, a wonderful (literally floating while walking) progression takes the young lovers through the streets of Cherbourg, leading up to the single sexual encounter between them. The music by itself, is restricted to the range of an "on pitch" actor or actress, never using any operatic flourishes. It is romantic, memorable, and lyrical throughout. It works equally well, sung, or played by a full orchestra. Absent an audio file with this article, the english version of the pop music is extremely familiar. The phrase: "if it takes forever...I will wait for you", likely will conjure up the music to most adult readers. It was the song that played over the downbeat ending of the Futurama episode Jurassic Bark. The score is certainly the musical masterwork, of Michel Legrand who in effect co-authored the scenario by Demy with his music.

Technical Details

It is interesting to note that the current version of Les Parapluies de Cherbourg released on DVD is a completely renovated version of the original. The film was shot on Eastman negative stock which rapidly faded and became almost unusable. The various copies of the film doing the cinema circuit also gradually lost their quality and it seemed that the vivid colours and fantastic contrast of the original film had been lost, only to be engraved on the memories of those lucky enough to see it in the 1960s. Very fortunately, Demy realised the short shelf-life of the original negative, and made negative black and white copies of the original in the three colour bands. (See Technicolor for a technical explanation of how the three-strip process works). In the 1990s, Demy's wife, film director Agnes Varda, headed a project to put these three black and white copies back together. The resulting film was an astonishing transformation - once again Demy's vision of a surreally bright Cherbourg was made available for the viewing public. Legrand assisted in the digital remastering of his score and finally produced an extremely high-quality version of the filmscore, considered by many to be a musical masterpiece.

Awards

Cast

Trivia


More information regarding this new production can be found at www.trtc.org

External link

 

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