The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg

Jacques Demy, France/W Germany 1964, 90 minutes

The second of Jacques Demy's informal trilogy of homages to 1950s Hollywood musicals, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is famous for having no spoken dialogue. Instead, the cast sing every line (like the more recent Evita), without ever forcing their voices in any way, taking the film into the realm of operetta or opera (thus distinguishing it from say, Tales of Hoffman or Carmen). They are also accompanied by music throughout. This novel approach was Demy's solution to the problem often apparent within Hollywood musicals of the disparity between the musical and non-musical elements, and how best to `integrate' them.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg splits its story up into three acts, taking us through the years 1957­63. Act I introduces the young lovers, Genevieve and Guy, along with all the other main characters. Guy is a mechanic and orphan who lives with his elderly aunt. Genevieve (Catherine Deneuve) works in her mother's umbrella shop. Her mother, Mme Emery, is a typical petit bourgeois. She disapproves of Guy because he is not respectable enough, and cannot guarantee Genevieve's financial security. Mme Emery is herself perpetually beset by financial difficulties. Luckily, in the first of many plot contrivances, a solution presents itself in the form of Roland, a young diamond dealer who agrees to buy some of Mme Emery's jewellery. Guy receives his call up papers for the army, at this time embroiled in the Algerian war. Before he departs, Guy and Genevieve make love for the first time. Act II, set a few months later, opens with Genevieve not having heard from Guy. Disconcerting enough in itself, this is made worse by the fact that she is pregnant by him...

Like its Hollywood models, everything in Umbrellas is incredibly bright and colourful, especialy in the new restored print. Yet, behind this surface, a rather more cynical worldview is apparent. The visuals are maybe just that bit too bright; sickly or saccharine sweet. Similarly, the story is just that bit too contrived, as solutions to the characters problems appear almost deus ex machina. It's also notable that adult bourgeois respectability wins out, in the end, over adolescent romantic ideals.

Review by Keith H Brown
Taken from EUFS Programme 1997-98