There are various ways in which different people’s world views could be put into clearly defined categories, but the simplest and sharpest is the one that separates people into hopeless romantics and cynical realists. It is hard to imagine those two world views being reconciled, especially not in works of art, which overwhelmingly tend to adopt the first category. But such works of art can be created, including films. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, the 1964 French musical by Jacques Demy, reconciles romanticism and realism on various levels.
The plot begins in the French port city of Cherbourg in November 1957. Sixteen-year-old Geneviève Emery (played by Catherine Deneuve) and young auto mechanic Guy (played by Nino Castelnuovo) are madly in love with each other. Their happiness is shattered when Guy is drafted and later sent to fight in the Algerian War. A few months later, it turns out that Geneviève is pregnant with Guy’s child. This is terrible news for Mme. Emery (played by Anne Vernon), Geneviève’s mother, who had never approved of the affair and whose umbrella shop business is failing. Possible rescue comes in the form of Roland Cassard (played by Marc Michel), a rich gem dealer who falls in love with Geneviève and wants to marry her, regardless of her condition. With Guy writing less and less frequently from the front, Geneviève is forced to make a painful decision—to stay loyal to the man she loves or to secure her family’s well-being.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is not like other films, and even the least experienced viewer could notice this first hand. The entire dialogue in the film is sung; not just the words in which characters express their feelings, but also the most ordinary and banal lines about filling tanks. At first, this might seem bizarre, but it doesn’t take long for the viewer to be sucked into the world of this film, which is both surreal and something most of us can easily relate to. One of the reasons for this could be found in the excellent music score by Michel Legrand—the notes follow the dialogue and plot in perfect harmony, and a limited number of themes is used for the entire film without any of them becoming repetitive. Because of that, Legrand’s score should be regarded as one of the most effective in the history of cinema.
Another reason why The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is both realistic and romanticist could be found in the way Demy uses production design, costumes and colours. In the first segments of the film, those that depict Guy’s and Geneviève’s happiness, the port city of Cherbourg is transformed into a magical place by Jean Rabier’s cinematography. Even when our protagonists’ fortune changes, the scenery looks prettier than the mood of the film—in this way Demy wants to remind each viewer of his or her tendency to remember only the good things of the past. But Demy at the same time hints at the dark side of Cherbourg – prostitution and other forms of social pathology you could find in a port city. The Algerian War subplot also brings an extra layer of realism and reminds the audience that people’s best years could be ruined by events beyond their control and comprehension.
The conflict between hopeless romanticism, embodied in Guy’s and Geneviève’s almost suicidal devotion to each other, and cynical realism, embodied in the cold financial calculations of Geneviève’s mother, isn’t as severe as you might expect in the works of less talented directors. Demy’s heart is obviously on the side of the young lovers, but he is quite aware of this world’s realities; this film lacks villains. Even those who stand in the way of the young lovers’ happiness are anything but evil – Mme. Emery wants nothing else but to secure a good life for her daughter, probably motivated by choosing heart over reason in her youth and learning to regret it later; Roland Cassard wants to buy the love of his life not only with money, but with an emotional sacrifice few men are able to withstand. In the second part of the film, Demy even shows that the obstacles in the way of the young lovers’ happiness wouldn’t be just external, but also psychological. People, just like everything else, change; they die, they go away, or they fall in and fall out of love.
The bittersweet ending, on the other hand, reconciles the ideals of heart and reason. It shows that love itself can’t guide people through life, but it is that very same love that gives life some purpose—even when it is reduced to nothing more than a nostalgic remembrance of youth. Because of its simple, but effective and universal message that transcends cultures and generations, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg would find its audience even among the grandchildren of those who watched it in the 1960s.
RATING: 9/10 (++++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on August 4th 2003)
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