Double Demy delight… The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)/ Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (1967)

In these dull days how wonderful to lose your heart to Catherine Deneuve with the delicious musical prompting from Michel Legrand and the sublime vision of Jacques Demy. These two musicals are among the finest never made in the US and present a very gallic take on the form, especially in the Umbrellas of Cherbourg which has just been re-released by the BFI as part of its musicals season: we have never been more in need of Demy’s style and substance.

It’s impossible to watch these films and not feel uplifted and heartbroken, the colours of Rochefort in summer dazzle whilst those in rainy Cherbourg are equally impressive even in darker interiors, backstreet stairwells, bars and workshops. Demy’s musicals dealt with complex emotions and confounded expectations and even over half a century later, with this being my first viewing of Umbrellas, I got more than expected.

Catherine Deneuve

I have seen Les Demoiselles de Rochefort – starring Deneuve’s equally everything, sister Françoise Dorléac – and watching the spanking new BFI Blu-ray, found new depths of delight in what is a masterpiece of co-ordinated location filmmaking. It’s a shot of pure joy with so much sisterly energy, another cracking Legrand score and is graced by an on-form Gene Kelly whose smile cracks the screen and who still makes even George Chakiris look like merely an exceptional mover.

But to the North coast first and Jean Rabier’s wonderful opening shot of the docks as the camera lifts above cobbled pavements showing the rain falling from high as the titles run and Legrand’s overture introduces the familiar poignancy of his key theme, Je ne pourrai jamais vivre sans toi (aka I Will Wait for You) in which he twists his melody so deep, Demy’s lyrics flow unopposed into any cineaste’s soul. There’s no dialogue in the film with every line sung in the cinematic equivalent of free-running all “sung-through” like an opera and, whilst this could so easily throw a force-field of artifice over the emotions on show it does the opposite and amplifies them just as the audience is disarmed by the melody and the extraordinary visuals.

Anne Vernon, mirror, wallpaper... Catherine.

Mise-en-scène has rarely played as big a role as here with costumes, paint and wallpaper combined to striking affect for the interiors – the BFI has even replicated the paper from the umbrella shop run by Madame Emery (Anne Vernon). Even some exteriors were painted as Demy aimed for consistency of look and tone to reflect the inner lives of our passionate players.

Geneviève (Catherine Deneuve) is the teenage daughter of Madame Emery and when she’s not working at her mother’s struggling shop, is romancing a handsome mechanic, Guy (Nino Castelnuovo). The two are very much in love although Madame Emery disapproves and wishes for a more suitable and affluent, partner. The web is tangled by a young woman called Madeleine (Ellen Farner) who helps to look after Guy’s elderly aunt. We’ve been here many times and we know things will not go too quickly to plan.

Sure enough, Guy is drafted to go and serve in Algeria whilst Geneviève gets pregnant on their last night before he heads off. The two promise to wait forever and Deneuve is so impressive in these sequences; heartbreak in song.

The young lovers go to Carmen... it's all opera.

True love never runs smooth… Madame Emery is forced into selling her pearls to cover a debt that threatens to close her business and the buyer, a wealthy Parisian jeweller, Roland Cassard (Marc Michel) starts to try and woo Geneviève. With Guy’s letters becoming less frequent and the prospect of motherhood advancing will Geneviève waver? Well, you’ll just have to watch it for yourself to find out.

Umbrellas is one of the most deeply emotional musicals and that’s a tough field to stand out in. I was blind-sided by the promise of the technique and didn’t really expect to get so “involved” … but Demy’s multiple lines of attack are too well co-ordinated for viewer neutrality. I urge you to go and watch this film in cinema and just let it happen to you…

Details of dates and bookings for the BFI’s nationwidere-release are on their website.

Moving down now to the Atlantic coast, Les Demoiselles de Rochefort now on BFI Blu-ray is a more whimsical affair but no less impressive. Catherine plays ballet teacher Delphine Garnier and Françoise is Solange her singing sister although both can play almost any instrument. Both have ambitions to go to Paris to find their fortunes yet, as things turn out their romantic and career fortunes may well come to meet them in their hometown.

It could be corny but it all works courtesy of Demy’s vision who ensures that same consistency of tone and again makes sure that simply everything works in pursuit of his narrative aims: what we see on screen is entirely the reflection of the characters’ feelings. Passers by dance and syncopate with both the story and the songs, the colours, the cars, the fair and even the streets all become signifiers moving from the background to become part of the whole. The medium really is the message as Demy takes the musical to its extreme conclusion: no one really sings out loud their inner thoughts but if musicals represent the most passionate and unashamed narratives of love and desire then the director decided to go the whole hog.

Gotta dance...

The timing is perfect throughout, Delphine has heard of an artist, Maxence (Jacques Perrin) who has painted a picture of his ideal woman, who looks a lot like her… the two keep missing each other throughout the film and at one point, as he leaves his bag at her mother’s café, our expectations are dashed by the merest second as she goes one way and he nips in the other; it’s heartbreak in a  heartbeat.

Appropriately for a film with as much dance as song, George Chakiris fresh from being a Shark, plays Etienne a fairground barker on a weekend visit to Rochefort with his buddy Bill (Grover Dale – another American dancer). They are joined by the ultimate Hollywood musical star, Gene Kelly, as Andy Miller, a famous musician visiting the town to see an old friend who just happens to be the ex-lover of the girl’s mother. The connections and coincidences make the film like a musical Paul Auster story, with near misses and improbable relations illustrating how life and love can turn on the spin of a centime… it’s hyper-real but still not fantastic enough to alienate the watcher and dull our concern.

Mr Kelly and fab MG sportscar

The film is also full of sharp and darkly humorous moments including the tale of an axe murderer, about which the denizens of the café run by the girls’ mother Yvonne Garnier (Danielle Darrieux) gaily sing with more fascination than horror. A crime of passion is all the more to sing about.

As with Umbrellas, Michel Legrand's music never fails to look love straight in the eye and if, I could barely cope with one Dorléac sister in Cherbourg, then, mon Dieu, I’m simply ruined in Rochefort…

So, do yourself a favour, boost your endorphins and blast away your winter miseries with this dual-format treat. As usual there are lashings of extras including a booklet crammed with essays and a welter of extras including Les Demoiselles ont eu 25 ans (1993) Agnès Varda’s documentary celebration of Demy and this film.

It’s essential and available from the BFI shop and all good retailers.