If we were to list down the best of the best movie musicals ever made, most of the titles would probably come from the Golden Age of Hollywood. But we’d be remiss to forget that just a few years later, all the way across the pond, came The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, a French romantic musical from Jacques Demy. It’s certainly in the running for the most gorgeous musical ever made, with the bold, dreamy colors, incredible camera work, stylish costumes, and two beautiful leads front and center, but what makes Cherbourg great is the lush composition made by Michel Legrand. With the sweeping violins and the tragic lyrics of Devant le Garage, to the catchy, jazzy Scène du Garage that starts off the film, Les Parapluies de Cherbourg brings together sublime visuals and sound into one of the greatest musicals ever made.
"Most exciting of all is perhaps the fact that on turning from the music to the very Parisian colour, one finds exactly the same language being spoken."
— Elizabeth Sussex
This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher, a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant.
The coastal town Cherbourg in Normandy, late 1950s. Umbrella boutique seller Geneviève falls in love with Guy, the dashing mechanic next door. However, after he gets drafted to serve in the Algerian War, Geneviève is forced to face a life-altering decision without him.
Look, some viewers might not be a fan of how every line of dialogue is sung here. I get it. To each their own. But don’t tell me that whenever the main theme plays, you’re NOT crying. Don't lie to me.
Jacques Demy and Michel Legrand… Thank you.
Other
3 nominations
Gorgeous