Paraplyene i Cherbourg

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

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 town 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 war in Algeria is looming and Guy must 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 instead of alternating between “ordinary scenes” and scenes with dance and singing. This approach suits the film well. The story is so simple that it could sound like a cliché, and when the words become too banal, the singing and dancing lift the film from cliché to magic.

The music was written by acclaimed 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 brilliant, and the film features 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 it had to be done properly. Parts of the town were repainted before filming, and the actors’ costume colours were carefully chosen to create the right atmosphere. The colours are as vivid as if drawn with felt-tip pens, yet so nuanced that they never seem garish.

Jacques Demy was an unconventional director of the French New Wave. While Godard, Truffaut and other leading directors of the movement 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 festival, including the Palme d’Or, and received no fewer than five Oscar nominations.