THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG

(1964) Rain splashes on cobblestone streets, multi-colored parapluies pop up against pastel walls, and ardent lovers rendezvous, while music fills the air. Nothing like Demy’s musical fantasy had ever been seen before, as Bernard Evein’s production design and Demy’s own artistry transformed the actual streets of Cherbourg, on which lovers Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo meet, into the most ethereal of creations, while every line of dialogue, from mundane car mechanics’ jargon to the transcendence of the young lovers’ impassioned vows, is sung to Michel Legrand’s now-classic score. This jeu d’esprit of the French New Wave wedded the movement’s stylistic innovations to the worlds of Pagnol, Borzage and Minnelli; made 20-year-old Deneuve internationally famous; took the top prize and Best Actress award at Cannes; garnered five Oscar nominations; and, in its overwhelming romanticism, capped by a snow-blanketed Christmas climax at an Esso station, reduced packed houses around the world to bittersweet tears. Approx. 91 min. DCP.

A JANUS FILMS RELEASE

Restored in 2013 with the support of the Festival de Cannes and LVMH

REVIEWS

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“ONE OF THE MOST ROMANTIC FILMS EVER MADE!”
–A.O. Scott, The New York Times

“INSANE WITH COLOR!” –New York magazine

“HAS AGED AS GRACEFULLY AS ITS IMPOSSIBLY BEAUTIFUL LEADING LADY!”
–Terrence Rafferty, The New Yorker

“May be the most rhapsodic movie ever made... Rarely have the movies produced such a stirring, unabashedly sincere display of pure feeling, represented in color, movement, and song. Even the most cynical viewers may find themselves overwhelmed.”
– Mike D’Angelo, Time Out New York

“The director once punned that his film was en-chanté – literally, ‘all sung,’ but also ‘magical.’ And he was right... Cherbourg is an opulent feast for the eyes and ears... a sui generis cinematic world of sumptuous colors, exquisite music, and ever-flowing tears.”
– Melissa Anderson

“A marvelous artifice full of bright colors, elegant camerawork, and beautiful people... The romance between these young lovers was not meant to be. But our romance with this incomparable film will last forever.”
– A.O. Scott, The New York Times