Les parapluies de Cherbourg (1964)

Director:

Jacques Demy

Writer:

Jacques Demy (scenario and dialogue)

Release Date:

16 December 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

FOR ALL THE YOUNG LOVERS OF THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD...

Plot:

Geneviève, 17, lives with her widowed mother, who owns an umbrella shop in Cherbourg. She and Guy, a twenty-year-old auto mechanic...

Plot Keywords:

Aunt | Marriage | Mechanic | Umbrella | Teenage Girl

Awards:

Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Catherine Deneuve	...	Geneviève Emery
Nino Castelnuovo	...	Guy Foucher
Anne Vernon	...	Madame Emery
Marc Michel	...	Roland Cassard
Ellen Farner	...	Madeleine
Mireille Perrey	...	Aunt Élise
Jean Champion	...	Aubin (as J. Champion)
Pierre Caden	...	Bernard (as P. Caden)
Jean-Pierre Dorat	...	Jean (as J.P. Dorat)
Bernard Fradet	...	Gas Station Apprentice (as B. Fradet)
Michel Benoist	...	Umbrella Buyer (as M. Benoist)
Philippe Dumat	...	Garage Customer in 1957 (as P. Dumat)
Dorothée Blank	...	Girl in Cafe (as D. Blank)
Jane Carat	...	Ginny (as J. Carat)
Harald Wolff	...	Monsieur Dubourg

Also Known As:

Die Regenschirme von Cherbourg (West Germany)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (USA)
Cherbourgin sateenvarjot (Finland) [fi]
Els paraigües de Cherbourg (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
Los paraguas de Cherburgo (Spain) [es]
Oi ombrelles tou Hervourgou (Greece) [el]
Os Chapéus de Chuva de Cherburgo (Portugal) [pt]
Os Guarda-Chuvas do Amor (Brazil) [pt]
Paraplyerna i Cherbourg (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Parsolki z Cherbourga (Poland) [pl]
Pigen med paraplyerne (Denmark) [da]

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

France | West Germany

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR (restored version) (1992) | Mono

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (re-rating) (1997) | Singapore:PG | Netherlands:AL (re-rating) (2008) | South Korea:12 | Australia:PG | Chile:TE | Finland:S | France:U | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Cherbourg, Manche, France

Company:

Parc Film

Trivia:

Roland tells Genevieve's mother he once loved a woman named "Lola." "Lola" is a Demy film from 1961, in which Marc Michel plays the same character of Roland.

Quotes:

Madame Emery: My little girl, you're crazy! Thinking of marriage at sixteen!
Geneviève Emery: Seventeen.
Madame Emery: In love!
Geneviève Emery: Am I too ugly or too stupid?
Madame Emery: No, you're not ugly. You're not the fairest of them all, but you're neither ugly nor stupid. You have plenty of time. You think you're in love, but love is something different. You do not just fall in love with a face in the street.
Geneviève Emery: He's a young man whom I've met several times, and he loves me. We want to get married.
Madame Emery: I am shocked!
Geneviève Emery: I went to the theater with him last night.
Madame Emery: So you lied to me! And you admit it without shame!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Les chansons d'amour (2007)

Soundtrack:

I Will Wait For You

Beautifully sad; a must-see! (SPOILER)

I heard so much about this film but missed seeing it in 1964 during its first release simply because it was never shown here. I finally got to see it 40 years after its debut and it remains as fresh and enchanting as I imagined it to be. The film is quite heartbreaking because Genevieve (Catherine Deneuve) did not persevere in her love for Guy. I can only imagine what pain Guy had to bear facing war in Algeria knowing his fiancée back home was pregnant with his child and he couldn't do anything about it. The blaze of colors in the movie was a contrast to the somber atmosphere of infidelity and lost love. I suppose they both had fairly good marriages but we can gleam that they did not reach the pinnacle of joy and had to settle for second best in the end. It sort of reminded me of Elia Kazan's "Splendor in the Grass"--Warren Beatty's character and Natalie Wood's character--they did not "live happily ever after"--they just settled for second best.

It is very clear that Genevieve continued to carry the memory of her lost love--otherwise she would not have made the detour to Cherbourg and meet Guy "accidentally"...It was such a heartbreaking scene--they meet each other after many many years and they have named their children with the same name--the name they planned to give their first-born as they made their future plans together before he leaves for his army stint. I wonder, would it still be as beautiful if it ended happily? In any case, it is one of the most unforgettable films I have ever seen. Try to get hold of the DVD copy for your collection. :-)