The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les parapluies de Cherbourg)

Essential Cinema

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les parapluies de Cherbourg)
Directed by Jacques Demy

Thursday, December 7, 7 pm

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“As sugar-spun holiday treats go, Umbrellas is hard to resist.” —Mark Feeney, Boston Globe

An angelically beautiful Catherine Deneuve was launched to stardom by this dazzling musical heart-tugger from Jacques Demy (the husband of Agnès Varda, director of Faces Places playing this same weekend). She plays an umbrella-shop owner’s delicate daughter, glowing with first love for a handsome garage mechanic, played by Nino Castelnuovo.

When the boy is shipped off to fight in Algeria, the two lovers must grow up quickly. Exquisitely designed in a kaleidoscope of colors, and told entirely through the lilting songs of the great composer Michel Legrand, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is one of the most revered and unorthodox movie musicals of all time. 1964, France, DCP, in English and French with English subtitles, 92 minutes.