Paraplyene i Cherbourg

Paraplyene i Cherbourg has the perfect blend of playfulness, beauty and passion that every musical aspires to achieve.

Catherine Deneuve had her breakthrough in the role of 17-year-old Geneviève in this classic. Geneviève works in her mother’s umbrella shop in the French port city of Cherbourg and is passionately in love with Guy, who works at a garage. They swear eternal love to each other and want to marry, but the Algerian War is looming and Guy has to join the military. In the bittersweet hour of their farewell, Geneviève becomes pregnant.

Paraplyene i Cherbourg is a sung-through musical, meaning that all the dialogue is sung rather than alternating between “regular scenes” and scenes with singing and dancing. This approach suits the film well. The story is so simple that it can sound like a cliché, and when the words become too banal, song and dance lift the film from cliché to magic.

The music was written by renowned jazz pianist Michel Legrand, who won three Oscars, composed music for more than 200 films, and is especially known for his jazz period in the 1950s, when he played with musicians such as Miles Davis, Bill Evans and John Coltrane. His melodic blend of jazz and ballads in Paraplyene i Cherbourg is nothing short of genius, and the film has one of the most unforgettable theme tunes of all time.

The film’s use of colour is also magical. Paraplyene i Cherbourg was intended to be the first French musical in colour, so the job had to be done properly. Parts of the city were repainted before filming, and the actors’ costume colours were carefully chosen to create the right mood. The colours are as vivid as if drawn with felt-tip pens, yet so nuanced that they never seem garish.

Jacques Demy was an atypical director of the French New Wave. While Godard, Truffaut and other leading New Wave directors were often concerned with portraying the confusion of the mind, the powerlessness of emotions and the defeat of love, Demy’s Paraplyene i Cherbourg is a bittersweet tribute to life and love. The film won three awards at the Cannes Film Festival, including the Palme d’Or, and received five Oscar nominations.

Cinemateket i Oslo, Dronningens gate 16, 0152 Oslo 2026-12-06 16:00