LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG (THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG)
A Film Review Copyright Dragan Antulov 2003
There are various ways in which different people's worldviews could be put in clearly defined categories, but the simplest and the sharpest is the one that separates people into hopeless romantics and cynical realists. It is hard to imagine those two worldviews being reconciled, especially not in the works of art, which overwhelmingly tend to adopt first category. But such works of art can be created, including movies. LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG, 1964 French musical by Jacques Demy, reconciles romanticism and realism on various levels.
The plot begins in French port city of Cherbourg in November 1957. 16-year old Genevieve Emery (played by Catherine Denevue) and young auto mechanic Guy (played by Nino Castelnouvo) are madly in love with each other. Their happiness is shattered when Guy gets drafted and later sent to fight in Algerian War. Few months later it turns out that Genevieve is pregnant with Guy. This is terrible news to Mme. Emery (played by Anne Vernon), Genevieve's mother who had never approved of the affair and whose umbrella shop business is failing. The possible rescue comes in the form of Roland Cassard (played by Marc Michel), rich gem dealer who falls in love with Genevieve and wants to marry her, regardless of her condition. With Guy writing less and less frequently from the front, Genevieve is forced to make painful decision -- to stay loyal to the man she loves or to secure her family's well-being.
LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG is not like the other films, and even the least experienced viewer could notice it first hand. The entire dialogue in the film is sung; not just the words in which characters express their feelings, but also the most ordinary and banal lines about filling tanks. At first, this might seem bizarre, but it doesn't take long for the viewer to be sucked into the world of this film, which is both surreal and something most of us can easily relate to. One of the reasons for this could be found in the excellent musical score by Michel Legrand -- the notes follow the dialogue and plot in perfect harmony and the limited number of themes is used for the entire film without any of them being repetitive. Because of that, Legrand's score should be regarded as the one most effective in the history of cinema.
Another reason why LES PA PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG is both realistic and romanticist could be found in the way Demy uses production design, costumes and colours. In the first segments of film, those that depict Guy's and Genevieve's happiness, port city of Cherbourg is transformed into magical place with the Jean Rabier's cinematography. Even when our protagonists' fortune changes, the scenery looks prettier than the mood of the film -- in this way Demy wants to remind the each viewer of his/her tendency to remember only the good things of the past. But Demy in the same time hints of the dark side of Cherbourg -- prostitution and other forms of social pathology you could find in port city. Algerian War subplot also brings extra layer of realism and reminds audience that people's best years could be ruined by the events beyond their control and comprehension.
Conflict between hopeless romanticism, embodied in Guy's and Genevieve's almost suicidal devotion to each other, and cynical realism, embodied in cold financial calculations of Genevieve's mother, isn't as severe as you could expect in the works of less talented directors. Demy's heart is obviously on the side of young lovers, but he is quite aware of this world's realities; this film lacks villains. Even those who stand in the way of young lover's happiness are anything but evil -- Mme. Emery wants nothing else but secure good life for her daughter, probably motivated by choosing heart over reason in her youth and learning to regret it later; Roland Cassard wants to buy the love of his life not only with money, but with emotional sacrifice few men are able to withstand. In the second part of the film even Demy shows that the obstacles in the way of young lover's happiness wouldn't be just external, but also psychological. People, just like everything else, change; they die, they go away or they fall in and fall out of love.
Bittersweet ending, on the other hand, reconciles ideals of heart and reason. It shows that love itself can't guide people through life, but it is that very same love that gives the life some purpose -- even when it is reduced to nothing more than nostalgic remembrance of youth. Because of its simple, but effective and universal message that transcends cultures and generations, LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG would find its audience even among the grandchildren of those who had watched it in 1960s.
RATING: 9/10 (++++)
Review written on August 3rd 2003
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax http://film.purger.com - Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in Croatian
========== X-RAMR-ID: 35419 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1183784 X-RT-TitleID: 1022303 X-RT-AuthorID: 1307 X-RT-RatingText: 9/10
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews