Les Parapluies de Cherbourg
Encyclopedia
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a 1964 French musical film directed by Jacques Demy
, starring Catherine Deneuve
and Nino Castelnuovo
. The music was written by Michel Legrand
. The film dialogue is all sung as recitative
, even the most casual conversation.
Umbrellas is the middle film in an informal "romantic trilogy" of Demy films that share some of the same actors, characters and overall look; it comes after Lola
(1961) and before The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967). The film was very successful in France with a total of 1,274,958 admissions.
s at their tiny boutique
in the coastal town of Cherbourg in Normandy, France. Geneviève is in love with 20-year-old Guy (Castelnuovo), a handsome, young auto mechanic
who lives with and cares for his sickly aunt, godmother
Elise. Her quiet, dedicated, young care-giver, Madeleine (Ellen Farner), is clearly in love with Guy. Subsequently, Guy is drafted
, and must leave for a two-year tour of duty in the Algerian War
. The night before he leaves, he and Geneviève make love and she becomes pregnant. After he leaves, though, she feels abandoned, as he does not write very frequently, largely due to the restrictions of military life. At her mother's insistence, she marries thirty-ish Roland Cassard (Marc Michel), a quiet, handsome Parisian jeweler who falls in love with Geneviève and is willing to wed her though she is carrying another man's child. (Cassard had previously wooed the title character in Lola
, only to be rejected once the father of her child returned—he relates an edited version of this story to Madame Emery with ill-concealed bitterness). The society wedding in a great cathedral shows Geneviève's upward social and economic mobility, but she does not seem at all happy with her situation; she clearly feels trapped.
When Guy returns from the war with a knee injury, he learns that Geneviève has married and left Cherbourg, and that the umbrella store has been sold. He attempts to ease back into his previous life, but becomes rebellious due both to the war and to the loss of Geneviève. One day, Guy quits his job after an argument with his boss, and drinks away the day and the evening in seedy port bars. He spends the night with a friendly prostitute named Jenny, who in the morning reveals that her name is actually Geneviève. When he returns to his apartment, he discovers a distraught Madeleine, who tells him tearfully that his godmother has died. He sees that Madeleine loves him, and cleans up his life with her encouragement. With an inheritance
from his aunt, he is able to finance a new "American-style" Esso
gas station. He asks Madeleine to marry him, and she accepts, though she wonders if he is asking her from despair at Geneviève's actions.
The coda
is set in December 1963, approximately six years after the earliest events. Guy is now managing the couple's Esso
station. He's with his now upbeat and loving wife Madeleine and their little son François. It is Christmas Eve
. Madeleine and François go for a short walk, leaving Guy briefly, after which a new Mercedes
pulls into the station. The mink-clad driver turns out to be a sophisticated and visibly well-off Geneviève, accompanied by her (and Guy's) daughter Françoise, who remains in the car. Shocked to see each other, they go inside the station to talk. Geneviève explains this is the first time she has been to Cherbourg since her marriage, and she is only in town on a detour to Paris after picking her daughter up from Cassard's mother in Anjou
. Her fairly young mother has died the previous autumn. Her rich husband and child are the only family she has left; she has no children by Cassard. The two converse while Geneviève's car is being filled with gas, and when Geneviève asks Guy if he wants to meet their daughter, he declines. With restrained emotion, they part. As the film ends, Guy greets his wife with a kiss and plays with his son in the snow.
The actors' voices were dubbed for the songs in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg:
The film score established composer Michel Legrand
's reputation in Hollywood, where he later scored other films, winning three Oscars. In North America, two of the film's songs became hits and were recorded by many artists: "I Will Wait For You
" (the main theme) and "Watch What Happens" (originally "Recit de Cassard" "Cassard's Story"). Both were given new English lyrics by lyricist Norman Gimbel
. Tony Bennett
's classic performance of the theme song was added to one version of the soundtrack CD.
is a completely restored version of the original.
The film was originally shot on Eastman
negative stock which rapidly faded and became almost unusable.
In addition, the various copies of the film used in the cinema circuit also gradually lost their quality, which meant that Umbrellas could never be seen with the rich colours that Demy had originally intended.
Knowing that the Eastman stock would fade over time, Demy fortunately, had the three main yellow, cyan and magenta color separation masters
made on black and white negative films that couldn't fade (a process similar to the creation of the older Technicolor process: see the article on Technicolor
for an explanation of this 'three-strip' process).
These black-and-white prints had greater longevity and in the 1990s, Demy's wife, film director Agnès Varda
, headed a project to create a new colour negative from the three black and white separations from which newly-restored full-color prints could then be made. The resulting film recaptured Demy's vision of a fantastically colourful Cherbourg.
In addition, composer Michel Legrand assisted in restoring the original 4-track stereo sound masters to digital and remastering his score to produce a higher-quality version, now available on CD.
, premiered at the Public Theater
.
In 2011, the Kneehigh Theatre Company presented the musical, starring Joanna Riding
as Madame Emery, cabaret artist Meow Meow
as the Maîtresse and Andrew Durand as Guy. The production was directed by Emma Rice. It was given tryouts at Leicester's Curve Theatre from 11 to 26 February 2011 and began previews in the West End
at the Gielgud Theatre
from 5 March, officially opening on 22 March. It was due to run until October 2011, but closed on 21 May 2011.
The West End cast as:
Jacques Demy
Jacques Demy was one of the most approachable filmmakers to appear in the wake of the French New Wave. Uninterested in the formal experimentation of Alain Resnais, or the political agitation of Jean-Luc Godard, Demy instead created a self-contained fantasy world closer to that of François...
, starring Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...
and Nino Castelnuovo
Nino Castelnuovo
Francesco "Nino" Castelnuovo is an Italian actor. His perhaps most prominent role was starring as Guy Foucher in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg...
. The music was written by Michel Legrand
Michel Legrand
Michel Jean Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist...
. The film dialogue is all sung as recitative
Recitative
Recitative , also known by its Italian name "recitativo" , is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech...
, even the most casual conversation.
Umbrellas is the middle film in an informal "romantic trilogy" of Demy films that share some of the same actors, characters and overall look; it comes after Lola
Lola (1961 film)
Lola, is a 1961 film, the debut film directed by Jacques Demy as a tribute to director Max Ophüls and is described by Demy as a "musical without music". Anouk Aimée starred in the title role...
(1961) and before The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967). The film was very successful in France with a total of 1,274,958 admissions.
Plot
Madame Emery and her 17-year-old daughter Geneviève (Deneuve) sell umbrellaUmbrella
An umbrella or parasol is a canopy designed to protect against rain or sunlight. The term parasol usually refers to an item designed to protect from the sun; umbrella refers to a device more suited to protect from rain...
s at their tiny boutique
Boutique
A boutique is a small shopping outlet, especially one that specializes in elite and fashionable items such as clothing and jewelry. The word is French for "shop", via Latin from Greek ἀποθήκη , "storehouse"....
in the coastal town of Cherbourg in Normandy, France. Geneviève is in love with 20-year-old Guy (Castelnuovo), a handsome, young auto mechanic
Mechanic
A mechanic is a craftsman or technician who uses tools to build or repair machinery.Many mechanics are specialized in a particular field such as auto mechanics, bicycle mechanics, motorcycle mechanics, boiler mechanics, general mechanics, industrial maintenance mechanics , air conditioning and...
who lives with and cares for his sickly aunt, godmother
Godparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
Elise. Her quiet, dedicated, young care-giver, Madeleine (Ellen Farner), is clearly in love with Guy. Subsequently, Guy is drafted
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
, and must leave for a two-year tour of duty in the Algerian War
Algerian War of Independence
The Algerian War was a conflict between France and Algerian independence movements from 1954 to 1962, which led to Algeria's gaining its independence from France...
. The night before he leaves, he and Geneviève make love and she becomes pregnant. After he leaves, though, she feels abandoned, as he does not write very frequently, largely due to the restrictions of military life. At her mother's insistence, she marries thirty-ish Roland Cassard (Marc Michel), a quiet, handsome Parisian jeweler who falls in love with Geneviève and is willing to wed her though she is carrying another man's child. (Cassard had previously wooed the title character in Lola
Lola (1961 film)
Lola, is a 1961 film, the debut film directed by Jacques Demy as a tribute to director Max Ophüls and is described by Demy as a "musical without music". Anouk Aimée starred in the title role...
, only to be rejected once the father of her child returned—he relates an edited version of this story to Madame Emery with ill-concealed bitterness). The society wedding in a great cathedral shows Geneviève's upward social and economic mobility, but she does not seem at all happy with her situation; she clearly feels trapped.
When Guy returns from the war with a knee injury, he learns that Geneviève has married and left Cherbourg, and that the umbrella store has been sold. He attempts to ease back into his previous life, but becomes rebellious due both to the war and to the loss of Geneviève. One day, Guy quits his job after an argument with his boss, and drinks away the day and the evening in seedy port bars. He spends the night with a friendly prostitute named Jenny, who in the morning reveals that her name is actually Geneviève. When he returns to his apartment, he discovers a distraught Madeleine, who tells him tearfully that his godmother has died. He sees that Madeleine loves him, and cleans up his life with her encouragement. With an inheritance
Inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...
from his aunt, he is able to finance a new "American-style" Esso
Esso
Esso is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. Pronounced , it is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil, and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1972, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by...
gas station. He asks Madeleine to marry him, and she accepts, though she wonders if he is asking her from despair at Geneviève's actions.
The coda
Epilogue
An epilogue, epilog or afterword is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work...
is set in December 1963, approximately six years after the earliest events. Guy is now managing the couple's Esso
Esso
Esso is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. Pronounced , it is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil, and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1972, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by...
station. He's with his now upbeat and loving wife Madeleine and their little son François. It is Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
. Madeleine and François go for a short walk, leaving Guy briefly, after which a new Mercedes
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
pulls into the station. The mink-clad driver turns out to be a sophisticated and visibly well-off Geneviève, accompanied by her (and Guy's) daughter Françoise, who remains in the car. Shocked to see each other, they go inside the station to talk. Geneviève explains this is the first time she has been to Cherbourg since her marriage, and she is only in town on a detour to Paris after picking her daughter up from Cassard's mother in Anjou
Anjou
Anjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...
. Her fairly young mother has died the previous autumn. Her rich husband and child are the only family she has left; she has no children by Cassard. The two converse while Geneviève's car is being filled with gas, and when Geneviève asks Guy if he wants to meet their daughter, he declines. With restrained emotion, they part. As the film ends, Guy greets his wife with a kiss and plays with his son in the snow.
Cast
- Catherine DeneuveCatherine DeneuveCatherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...
as Geneviève Emery - Anne VernonAnne VernonAnne Vernon , born Edith Antoinette Alexandrine Vignaud is a French actress. She has appeared in 40 films between 1948 and 1970, including three films that were entered into the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival....
as Madame Emery - Mireille Perrey as Aunt Élise
- Ellen Farner as Madeleine
- Nino CastelnuovoNino CastelnuovoFrancesco "Nino" Castelnuovo is an Italian actor. His perhaps most prominent role was starring as Guy Foucher in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg...
as Guy Foucher - Marc Michel as Roland Cassard
- Jean ChampionJean ChampionJean Champion was a French film actor. He appeared in 60 films between 1962 and 1996.-Selected filmography:* The Umbrellas of Cherbourg * Le Cercle rouge * The Invitation...
as Aubin - Pierre Caden as Bernard
- Jean-Pierre Dorat as Jean
Music
The continuous music score and the colour photography had much to do with the popularity of this film. Formally, the work is an operetta in that songs as well as dialogue advance the action. Examples include young Genevieve and Guy discussing their love and their separation by his military service, Roland's telling his life story to Mme Emery, and Aunt Elise's affection towards both Madeleine and Guy. It is a melodrama in that each character declares himself truly and simply: all the people are good, no one tries to deceive anyone, but the sincerity of Genevieve and Guy does not mean their lives turn out as they hope. In harmony with this, the colour photography is bright and vivid: and the whole is united by an orchestral score of simple but sincere rhythms and tunes that permeate continuously a story of events lasting at least five years.The actors' voices were dubbed for the songs in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg:
- Danielle LicariDanielle LicariDanielle Licari is a French singer who was active in the 1960s and 1970s. She's now remembered in France as a backing vocalist in chanson.- Career :...
: Geneviève Emery - José Bartel: Guy Foucher
- Christiane LegrandChristiane LegrandChristiane Legrand was a French singer.Legrand was born in Paris, the daughter of film composer Raymond Legrand, who wrote "Irma la Douce."She studied piano and classical music from the time she was four...
: Madame Emery - Georges Blaness: Roland Cassard
- Claudine Meunier: Madeleine
- Claire Leclerc: Aunt Élise
The film score established composer Michel Legrand
Michel Legrand
Michel Jean Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist...
's reputation in Hollywood, where he later scored other films, winning three Oscars. In North America, two of the film's songs became hits and were recorded by many artists: "I Will Wait For You
I Will Wait for You
"I Will Wait For You" is a song from the French musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg . Its music was composed by Michel Legrand and its lyrics written by Jacques Demy. It was performed in the film by Catherine Deneuve, whose voice was dubbed by Danielle Licari. The English lyrics of the song were...
" (the main theme) and "Watch What Happens" (originally "Recit de Cassard" "Cassard's Story"). Both were given new English lyrics by lyricist Norman Gimbel
Norman Gimbel
Norman Gimbel is an American lyricist of popular songs, television and movie themes whose writing career includes such titles as "Sway", "Canadian Sunset", "Summer Samba", "The Girl from Ipanema", "Killing Me Softly With His Song", "Meditation" and "I Will Wait for You", along with an Oscar for...
. Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
's classic performance of the theme song was added to one version of the soundtrack CD.
Restoration
The current version released on DVD by Koch-Lorber FilmsKoch-Lorber Films
Koch-Lorber Films, launched in February 2003, is an independent film distributor and DVD label based in New York...
is a completely restored version of the original.
The film was originally shot on Eastman
Eastman Color Negative
Eastman Color Negative, specifically abbreviated as ECN, is a photographic processing system created by Kodak in the 1950s for the development of monopack color negative motion picture film stock....
negative stock which rapidly faded and became almost unusable.
In addition, the various copies of the film used in the cinema circuit also gradually lost their quality, which meant that Umbrellas could never be seen with the rich colours that Demy had originally intended.
Knowing that the Eastman stock would fade over time, Demy fortunately, had the three main yellow, cyan and magenta color separation masters
Separation masters
Separation masters are a method of long-term preservation for most modern color motion picture film. Since monopack color film - used in such processes as ECN, ECP and their successive revisions - contains photographically active color couplers which remain in the film after development, the...
made on black and white negative films that couldn't fade (a process similar to the creation of the older Technicolor process: see the article on Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
for an explanation of this 'three-strip' process).
These black-and-white prints had greater longevity and in the 1990s, Demy's wife, film director Agnès Varda
Agnès Varda
Agnès Varda is a French film director and professor at the European Graduate School. Her movies, photographs, and art installations focus on documentary realism, feminist issues, and social commentary — with a distinct experimental style....
, headed a project to create a new colour negative from the three black and white separations from which newly-restored full-color prints could then be made. The resulting film recaptured Demy's vision of a fantastically colourful Cherbourg.
In addition, composer Michel Legrand assisted in restoring the original 4-track stereo sound masters to digital and remastering his score to produce a higher-quality version, now available on CD.
Awards
- Prix Louis-Delluc, 1963
- Palme d'OrPalme d'OrThe Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival1964 Cannes Film FestivalThe 17th Cannes Film Festival was held from 29 April to 14 May 1964. The Palme d’Or is renamed 'Grand Prix International du Festival', the name that will be used until 1975.-Jury:*Fritz Lang *Charles Boyer... - Critics' prize for Best Film, by the French Syndicate of Film Critics, 1965
- Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language FilmAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language FilmThe Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
at the 37th Academy Awards37th Academy AwardsThe 37th Academy Awards honored film achievements of 1964. For the first time, an award was presented in the field of makeup. All four acting awards went to non-American actors, something not repeated until the 80th Academy Awards were awarded for 2007....
held in 1965 - Nominated for four more Academy Awards at the 38th Academy Awards38th Academy AwardsThe 38th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1965, were held on April 18, 1966 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. They were hosted by Bob Hope....
held in 1966, three for Legrand and Demy, though it did not win any: "Best Song" (for "I Will Wait For You"), "Best Original ScoreAcademy Award for Original Music ScoreThe Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
", "Best Scoring - Adaptation or Treatment" and "Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen".
Stage adaptation
In 1979, an English-language stage adaptation, with translated lyrics by Sheldon HarnickSheldon Harnick
Sheldon Harnick is an American lyricist best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on hit musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof....
, premiered at the Public Theater
Public Theater
The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as The Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers. It is headquartered at 425 Lafayette Street in the former Astor Library in the East Village...
.
In 2011, the Kneehigh Theatre Company presented the musical, starring Joanna Riding
Joanna Riding
Joanna Riding, is an English actress. For her work in West End musicals, she has won two Laurence Olivier Awards, and has been nominated for two others.-Biography:...
as Madame Emery, cabaret artist Meow Meow
Melissa Madden Gray
Melissa Madden Gray, stage name Meow Meow, is an Australian-born actress, dancer and cabaret performer who tours internationally. Gray has been particularly active in the UK where she appeared in La Clique at the Roundhouse and created the rôle of the Maîtresse in the West End musical adaptation...
as the Maîtresse and Andrew Durand as Guy. The production was directed by Emma Rice. It was given tryouts at Leicester's Curve Theatre from 11 to 26 February 2011 and began previews in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
at the Gielgud Theatre
Gielgud Theatre
The Gielgud Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, London, at the corner of Rupert Street. The house currently has 889 seats on three levels.-History:...
from 5 March, officially opening on 22 March. It was due to run until October 2011, but closed on 21 May 2011.
The West End cast as:
- Joanna RidingJoanna RidingJoanna Riding, is an English actress. For her work in West End musicals, she has won two Laurence Olivier Awards, and has been nominated for two others.-Biography:...
as Madame Emery - Andrew Durand as Guy Foucher
- Dominic MarshDominic MarshDominic Marsh is an English actor, best known for his role as Smithy in the BBC soap opera, Doctors-Career:He appeared in eight episodes of Doctors playing the character Noah 'Smithy' Smithson, a mentally ill patient who was the love interest of receptionist Ruth Pearce...
as Roland Cassard/Aunt Elise - Laura Brydon as Ensemble
- Gareth Charlton as Dubourg/Sailor/Animator
- Chris JenkinsChris Jenkins (actor)Chris Jenkins is a Welsh actor. He grew up in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales attending Stanwell School...
as Ensemble/Swing
- Meow MeowMelissa Madden GrayMelissa Madden Gray, stage name Meow Meow, is an Australian-born actress, dancer and cabaret performer who tours internationally. Gray has been particularly active in the UK where she appeared in La Clique at the Roundhouse and created the rôle of the Maîtresse in the West End musical adaptation...
as Maîtresse - Carly Bawden as Geneviève Emery
- Cynthia Erivo as Madeleine
- Matt Wilman as Sailor/Ensemble
- Aki Omoshaybi as Sailor/Animator
- Gillian Budd as Ensemble/Swing
See also
- List of submissions to the 37th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of French submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
External links
- The Umbrellas of Cherbourg at Rotten TomatoesRotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
- Chicago Reader Review
- The Umbrellas of Cherbourg West End Musical