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24 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :- A ray of cinematic sun, 24 October 2002 Author: GaryMotev
It's hard to put your finger on exactly what it is about the atmosphere of Jacques Demy's musicals that's so - well - appealing, but "The Young Girls of Rochefort" opens with a pretty big clue: the dancers assemble on what looks like a funny kind of suspension bridge, when suddenly the platform lifts off (as does Michel Legrand's music), to float over the water to the other side. The kids (including "West Side Story"'s George Chakiris) dance away as they drift along in mid-air, giving us the perfect metaphor for what Demy's about to offer: a sunny bagatelle that sets you free from gravity, but which is clearly - well - a little mechanical.Or perhaps "artificial" is a better word - Demy's always straightforward about what he's doing, and the play of artifice in "Rochefort" is one of its peculiar charms. He doesn't seem to care that the gorgeous Catherine Deneuve and her real-life sister, Francoise Dorleac, aren't really dancers (or that even the "real" dancers are sometimes slightly out of sync) - they simply carry on with their numbers through sheer star power and happy sang-froid. As do their characters - what might count as tragedy in an American musical is always merely accepted in Demy ("The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" being the ultimate example). Only "Rochefort" is about tragedies constantly being averted or diverted - if "Umbrellas" was drenched in a perpetual rain shower, "Rochefort" is pure sun.Gene Kelly is also on hand to do a few cameos as Francoise's love interest - and his main dance is a charming, quick-time take on what he used to do on a much broader canvas. George Chakiris is, as we remember from "West Side Story", a charming dynamo; Danielle Darrieux is her usual sublime self; and keep an eye out for a young Michel Piccoli as the ardent Monsieur Dam. Michel Legrand's score, again as usual, relies a bit too heavily on its big theme - but it's also about as jazzily sophisticated as musical scores ever got. The choreography doesn't offer any breakthroughs, but there are some charming sequences which are nearly as through-danced as "Umbrellas" was through-sung.Altogether a charmer - big wigs, even bigger hats, and an exquisite pastel palette - what's not to like?
17 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :- A Classic That Keeps Astounding, Ever More Absurdly, With Each Visit, 16 January 2005 Author: talltale-1 from Jackson Heights, NY
Jacques Demy's THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT is such a special treat--so bright, light and airy, full of wonderful music and dance--that it's difficult to over-rate it or not recommend it. And yet.Demy is a cinema artist who always verged in the precious (in my opinion he rarely toppled over), and this may cause trouble for some. His "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" has always seemed to me a heavy-handed, repetitive, sentimental downer; "Young Girls" is very nearly its polar opposite. (Demy's wife, the wonderful filmmaker Agnes Varda, has overseen the reconstruction of this classic, and we owe her quite a debt!) Michel Legrand's music here is full of jazzy, astonishing riffs and lots of melody. Accompanying it are some delightful lyrics that are translated fittingly--if not precisely--into equally delightful English. Catherine Deneuve and her late sister Francoise Dorleac are wonderful in the title roles, and they're helped immensely by the likes of Danielle Darrieux, George Chakiris, Grover Dale, Gene Kelly (yes, an American in Rochefort!), Michel Piccoli and a young and exquisitely beautiful Jacques Perrin. The dancing is a joy, as well, as you'd expect from a film that offers Chakiris, Dale and Kelly. Characters sing of their lives and lost loves, and everything--from the pastel-painted city to the gorgeously coordinated costumes--is as unbelievable yet as wonderful as an enchanted dream.I remember enjoying the film when it first appeared. Now, it seems not only of its time but ahead of that time and so special and perfect that I suspect certain of us will want to revisit it every few years, for as many as we have left. In a word: transporting.
15 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :- Possibly my favourite musical, definitely an acquired taste, and YES there is an English version!, 28 February 2001 Author: Cristian-3 from 7 Craven Road, London, England
I just wanted to say I truly love this film and I do believe there will be a great deal of different opinions on it. My point in this post is that I have read in many places that the English language version of this film was never released and/or it's lost. This is not true at all as the first time I watched it was in English on television, late night during a stay in Brazil, with Portuguese subtitles. The catchphrase of "Je vais en Nantes, Je vais en perm' a Nantes" translated to "I'm going to Toulouse, I've nothing to lose."The soundtrack is currently available on a fantastic new 2-CD set that replaces the long out-of-print 2 LP set, and includes the song "A Pair of Twins" in English! The LP, though, with its booklet and liner notes and pictures is a tough act to follow. Ah well.I wish this movie would come out on DVD with both versions and greet a whole new generation of fans. Here's hoping this will happen within our lifetimes, while some of us are still young.The Young Girls of Rochefort was an ambitious effort that paid off very generously in artistic terms but it was not as great a success in the box-office as Demy's previous "Umbrellas of Cherbourg". The score in "Rochefort" is sometimes a little repetitive but the soundtrack to me is the best one ever for a musical....or at least a French musical.
15 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :- And I Don't Even Speak French!, 2 February 1999 Author: gurghi-2 from Lexington, Kentucky
(with apologies to Jonathan Rosenbaum...)Watching the Hollywood musicals of Astaire and Kelly, one can't help but marvel at the skill and precision of the dancing and the mise en scene, and be buoyed by the very idea that the world could be so perfect, if only in a movie. "Rochefort" isn't perfect in the same way, but in pushing the musical to a different plane it achieves a kind of perfection, one dependent not on the talents of its cast or, as the popular Broadway musicals were, on the book & lyrics.(Which is not to say that there isn't great music! Themes are repeated, to be sure, but Legrand's melodies delight, and there's more musical variance here than in "Umbrellas of Cherbourg".)Musicals, like most popular entertainment, usually serve to reinforce our ideals. The 30 years since its release may have been kind, but "The Young Girls of Rochefort" is a rare thing, an entertainment that challenges, flies in the face of convention.Of special note are the colors, delightfully absurd; the English subtitles, much of which read in perfect sync (including rhymes) with the music (a coinciding English-language verson was shot but never released); the macabre- this is probably the only musical with a song about an ax-murder.The world in which this movie exists hasn't been seen on the screen before or since. Of course, all musicals are fantasy of a kind, but Demy takes it somewhere else. It is one of film's truly unique experiences.
9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :- Demy's tribute to the musicals, 10 October 2006 Author: jotix100 from New York
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
Jacques Demy loved the American musical genre, as seen already in some of the films that preceded this one, most notably, "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg", one of the best musical pictures of all times from France. Even with his magnificent "Lola", he inserted music and dance in it. Mr. Demy followed his earlier success with "Les Demoiselles de Rochefort". Unfortunately, French audiences didn't like this new musical at all, which was a shame. But the public can be fickle and perhaps the story didn't hold the public's attention in the new film. In 1996, Jacques Demy's widow, the talented Agnes Varda, a director on her own right, lovingly restored this movie, and the public responded to it the way they should have done thirty years before.The film was Jacques Demy's way to pay tribute to American musicals, especially the glossy pictures produced by MGM in its heyday. He even got the valuable cooperation of Gene Kelly, a man who felt at home in France and who is an asset in the film in an inspired appearance. The film consolidated the cooperation between Demy and Michel Legrand, his invaluable collaborator. Mr. Legrand's music is tuneful as it advances the action in the film.The plot is simple, and yet, the viewer is won over by the characters in the story. There is a feeling of love throughout the film and of hope. The twin sisters and their ambitions are at the center of the story. Also, their mother, who had loved and lost, finds happiness at last with the man she longed for.The cast is impeccable. A young Catherine Deneuve is a pleasure to watch. Her real life sister, Francoise Dorlac, a beautiful actress who died much too young, is another great asset in the film. The wonderful Danielle Darrieux plays the mother. Michel Piccoli is Monsieur Dame, the owner of the music instrument shop who never stops loving Madame Yvonne, the twin girls' mother. Gene Kelly makes a magnificent appearance, he also contributed to the dancing numbers. George Chakiris and Grover Dale have some good moments. A young Jacques Perrin plays the sailor who is looking for his ideal woman.Jacques Demy made a film that, while it will not please everyone, is a feast for the eye. Agnes Varda also needs to be given credit for the great job she did in restoring her late husband's work.
9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :- Demy Paradis, 3 April 2005 Author: writers_reign
It's probably pure chance that I saw this film for the first time - in the restored version by Agnes Varda - a few days after I was leafing through Demy's Collected Lyrics which have recently been published in France. It's clear from Frame #1 that this is a film to which you either have to surrender as the credits roll or squirm in embarrassment for the next two hours. Demy's 'fairy-tale' is as unashamedly full of coincidences as any Shakespeare comedy even to the extent of employing one set of twins, albeit non-identical but played by real-life sisters Catherine Deneuve and Francois Dorleac. If you're going to stop and wonder why the streets are always available for dancing in - i.e. traffic-free - or why Danielle Darrieux runs a cafe/bar which is little more than a counter, a glass roof and no substantial walls, then you're in the wrong movie. Demy loved chocolate-box movies and he complemented them with chocolate-box music from Michel Legrand - I was pleasantly surprised to realize that I already knew the main love them via its English lyric by Alan and Marilyn Bergman, You Must Believe In Spring, recorded definitively by Marlene VerPlanck - and the score, on the whole is lush without being memorable and ranging from fifties type small combo jazz to all-out string ensembles and if everyone - including Gene Kelly - except Danielle Darrieux is dubbed so what. Jacques Perrin is also on hand as a love-sick sailor, what else, and after seeing him play more or less the same role (narrator) in both Cinema Paradiso and Les Choristes the effect is like seeing a photograph of a friend acquired in middle age when he was a young man. Definitely worth a second viewing and who knows, I may even go so far as to buy the DVD.
10 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :- Double your pleasure, 5 January 2001 Author: davo from Eugene, Oregon
This film often suffers by comparison to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and unfairly so in my opinion. Because it is more upbeat, and delights directly in its status as an entertainment, it is perceived as less "serious", (i.e. lacking in intellectual rigor.) However, it shares all of the virtues of its more celebrated sister film without the heavier taste of melancholy and I think Les Demoiselles is dancier. Even the basketball players are choreographed. The iterations of the twins' song are especially fun.
10 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :- Deneuve + Dorleac x Demy = Delightful!, 5 February 2002 Author: TheVid from Colorado Springs, CO
THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT is Jacques Demy's followup to his popular international success, THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG. It's not the same kind of operatic musical as it's predecessor and is much more a product of it's time (and sadly, that makes it much more inaccessible to modern audiences). What you get here is a romantic farce in the old MGM tradition, with lot's of garish 60's-style color and costumes, definitely in tune to Michel Legrand's astounding jazz score. The campy outdoor dance numbers date, but thankfully give way to dynamically orchestrated instrumental versions of Legrand's music. This is definitely a movie for those who enjoy cinematic musical comedy; it's visual appeal is undeniable and each shot is lovingly designed and framed. Deneuve and Dorleac are amazing beauties and presented in their prime, which is reason enough to enjoy the picture. Michel Legrand's score is far more complex melodically and orchestrally than his more famous one for UMBRELLAS; it's a joy to listen to. About the best compliment I can pay THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT is to say that it brilliantly precedes and shines with more talent and energy than the recently released MOULIN ROUGE (a film that surprisingly has a lot in common with it). Demy doesn't need any CGI, MTV-editing or pop songs to get it's simple, lovely message across! It's very nice indeed to have a restored version on DVD of Jacques Demy's LES DESMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT!
11 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :- Two of a kind musical; Deeper than you think, 2 July 2000 Author: Aw-komon from Encino, CA
'Girls of Rochefort' would amount to not much more than a mawkish, extremely sentimental film, if one only looked at the surface. But fortunately an original French New Waver made this (quite non-new-wavish) film and there's definitely more here if you care to look. Like its companion piece, the more popular 'Umbrellas of Cherbourg,' 'Girls of Rochefort' contains and exists to hint at and coelesce surprisingly hidden meanings behind the vulgarity and overstatement. Yes! Believe it or not these two films contain (much like the more obvious case of Jaques Tati's comedies) in their style, some of the deepest and I believe quite intentional (judging by the absolutely systematic understated style of Demy's first film 'Lola' which magnificently proves he can handle that 'understatement business' whenever it suits him) criticism of petty bourgeois values ever put on film. As for Legrand's music, it is sometimes great, sometimes extremely annoying to the point of nausea. Whether or not it was intended to actually do what it does in fact do--make the general public like it at its face and the 'artsy' people disgusted to a certain point, so they can imagine they're seeing Marxist criticism in it--will of course determine Demy's stature as either a premeditated master of cinema or a master in retrospect. Either way, mastery is the name of the game, and like the best American musicals these two flicks lend themselves to quite a bit of welcome ambiguity. As for purely visual delights: where else can you see both Francoise Dorleac and younger sister Catherine Deneauve,in their prime, blessing the screen simultaneously with their exquisite beauty?
7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :- We are twin sisters..., 23 August 2005 Author: dbdumonteil
When the movie was released in France,it was looked upon by most of the critics as a failure.Since it has been restored to favor and enjoys a high rating on the IMDb.Hindsight reveals that Demy's work thoroughly deserved its restoring to favor.It's all the more precious as it was to be the only movie where the Dorleac sisters (Catherine and Françoise) would appear together,after the latter's tragic death.A whole town is singing and dancing ,a whole town which painter Demy colors in pastel blue ,green ,yellow,pink just as he did in Cherbourg,three years before.But,unlike "the parapluies",the lines are not sung,it's actually closer to American musicals ,which Gene Kelly's and George Chakiris's presence reinforces.The French cast is also very exciting:Danielle Darrieux is marvelously cast as the mother (she would often be Deneuve 's mother,check "8 femmes"!)and there's also a Demy's favorite ,Jacques Perrin (who would be Prince Charming in "Peau d'âne)and Michel Piccoli.Michel Legrand,without whom a Demy movie would not exist, gave one of his best tunes "the twin sisters song" .As I said at the beginning of my comment,the movie met mixed critical reception when it was released and not-so-great commercial success.Demy exiled himself to America where he made the uneven "Model shop" ;but "Peau d'Ane" (1970) reasserted his talent in his native country.
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