Les Parapluies de Cherbourg review ★★★★★ by Ifan Llewelyn
When it comes to cinema, beauty is all too often dismissed as superficial. Placing style over substance is seen as appealing to people on a base level. The works of Wes Anderson are parodied relentlessly and Kubrick is more likely to draw people to exhibition spaces than cinemas these days. Sitting reclined on a sofa and immersing yourself in beauty can be a tonic in difficult times. That’s not something to be dismissed. Quintessentially ‘60s, French and, above all else, visually stunning, Jacques Demy’s Les Parapluies de Cherbourg is escapism at its finest. There’s little that compares to enveloping yourself in the musical world of a colourful seaside town to witness two beautiful young people fall in and out of love.
An instant hit when it premiered in 1964, the musical romantic drama introduced the world to the talent and beauty of Catherine Deneuve who became a paradigm icon of style for the decade. Fresh-faced with swooped back blonde hair and the most delicate flick of a small cat eye, Deneuve embodies the silent protest of the decade’s young women. As Geneviève, the daughter of a chic yet financially unstable umbrella shop, she was catapulted on to an international stage. Her performance in Chergbourg inspired a generation of young women to fall desperately in love. When the romance of Geneviève and Guy is set alight, it’s hard to keep the envy at bay.
Guy, an auto mechanic, does not meet the high standards that Geneviève’s mother has set for any potential suitor. Their romance blossoms in secret, both infatuated with each other as you can only truly be at the age of seventeen. Their story is broken up in three acts, with the first, “The Departure”, suggesting that our lovers are star-crossed, destined to be parted. When Guy is drafted into the military service, you may be able to see it coming a mile off, but that doesn’t prevent it from tugging at the heartstrings. As the two embrace to comfort their shared sorrow, in swells the film’s familiar Love Theme. “Oh! mon amour, ne me quitte pas.”
This soft-handed portrayal of an every-day tragedy is what gained this Jaques Demy film its ‘masterwork’ status. Each shot is deliberate and shrouded in nuance, from the stiff and symmetrical dinners scenes under the portrait of a bored woman, to a heart-wrenching pan away with Guy’s train out of Cherbourg. This is a simple story told beautifully, with just enough drama and suspense to keep it engaging. Out main character’s dilemmas are relatable and hum-drum, but that’s what makes them so tragic. Though telling the story through song, with the entire film being in recitative, does take a little getting used to, Michel Legrand’s composition brings another level of romanticism to this dream-like world.
Though there are more than enough problematic elements that haven’t aged too well, like Geneviève’s helplessness after Guy’s departure or the incessant gushing over her beauty that takes place, it still maintains an inoffensive nostalgia. It may not pass the Bechtel test, but this is a love film about a woman’s love for a man and vice versa. It’s safe to say that any person with the love of Nino Castelnuovo would be gushing about him endlessly. This is an evening at the cinema that has surely inspired its own romances, being the ultimate second date slam-dunk. If the opportunity to catch Les Parapluies de Cherbourg in a cinema presents itself to you, it would be criminal not to take up the offer. Sink into a row of red velvet chairs and just let it wash over you.
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg is back in cinemas across the UK.
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