The Cinema, Inc

Presents

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Sunday, December 12, 2010
7:00 pm
The Rialto Theatre
1620 Glenwood Avenue Raleigh, North Carolina

(Please be aware that parking is not permitted in the Rite Aid
parking lot and that
cars will be towed. Please wait outside of the theater until the
previous film ends.)

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The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg),
France, 1964, Color, Not Rated, 91 Minutes. Directed by Jacques
Demy. Starring Nino Castelnuovo, Catherine Deneuve, Anne
Vernon, Ellen Farner, Marc Michel, Mirelle Perrey, Harald Wolff.

The first notes heard in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg are those of
a solo flute playing the notes of the central melody: I Will Wait
for You. A French horn then echoes this melody, adding
harmony. More instruments come into play in a quasi-canon of the
melody. The orchestra plays in unison as the main titles appear in
front of a line of brightly colored umbrellas. The music is
haunting, romantic, and has a hypnotic sound to it. We hear it and
immediately we are in love.

And so begins the film: a beautifully acted and executed film
where all of the dialogue is sung and the actors move with such
fluidity, they seem to dance rather than move. A film where the
most ordinary of images seem about as beautiful as rose petals.

This is the work of Jacques Demy, whose intention of making this
movie was to bring to the silver screen something different and
unique. Sure enough, he succeeded.

The films plot is rather simple: Gas station attendant Guy (Nino
Castelnuovo) and umbrella shop clerk Genevieve (Catherine
Denuve) are truly, madly, deeply in love. They fantasize about
married life, do not seem to care for arguments with one another,
and they both feel as though they are complete when the other is
with them. When Guy is drafted, Genevieve must come to terms
with the fact that she may never see Guy again. Her mother wants
her to forget about Guy and marry a man solely for the purpose of
financial security. Genevieve finds that hard to do, seeing as she is
carrying Guys child.

Umbrellas plot may seem to be one you would find in a bargain-
rack novelette, though Demy creates a unique and magical
cinematic experience through his use of color, music, and images.
An umbrella shop filled with purple wallpaper, a gas station
covered with snow, all of these images are exhilarating to watch on
the big or small screen.

Though, when it was first released, Demy was nervous about the
quality of the colors on the films negatives. Demy shot Umbrellas
on Eastman negative stock which ultimately faded rapidly and was
nearly unusable. After being circulated so much around theaters in
the 60s, the colors on the negatives began to fade meaning
audience could not be seen with the rich colors Demy intended.

In response, he made black and white copies of the original in a
process similar to that of the Technicolor process called three
color bands. Fortunately for Demy, these prints had a greater
longevity and in the 1990s, Demys wife helped fund a project to
create a color print from the black and white copies.

The result? The film as we know it today.

The film has a long history also with its composer and leading
lady. Michael Legrand, because of this film, enjoyed an enormous
amount of acclaim and success in Hollywood and quickly
established himself as a composer of great passion, emotion, and
originality. The score was nominated for two Academy Awards,
Best Original Score & Best ScoringAdaptation or Treatment.

Umbrellas most famous song, I Will Wait for You, was
nominated for Best Original Song and has been recorded by
everyone from Frank Sinatra to the London Philharmonic. Tony
Bennett recorded the song Watch What Happens, using the
theme from Cassards Story in the film with new English lyrics.

The film also launched the career of its leading lady, Catherine
Deneuve. Audiences saw her raw, emotional power in Genevieve
and immediately knew that many great things would come of her.
Over one year after Umbrellas was released, an up-and-coming
director by the name of Roman Polanski would direct Deneuve in a
disturbing and claustrophobic movie called Repulsion, which
would establish Deneuve as an actress who could play and own
any role given to her.

Umbrellas has a way of dazzling the senses of its audience. The
colors on the screen combined with Michael Legrands continuous
musical score make for a truly magical cinematic experience.
Critics and viewers throughout the ages have all but criticized this
film; it is a rare gem of a movie that, from the get-go, captures our
interest and emotions and keeps them close to us, never letting go.

Even if you are not a fan of subtitled movies, operas, or musicals,
Umbrellas will surely change your mind, if only for just for a
second. We live in the movie, we feel all of the characters
emotions in each frame which makes the ending of the film even
more riveting than the last screening (JC).