The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Plot

Madame Emery and her beautiful 16-year-old daughter Genevieve (Deneuve) sell umbrellas at their tiny (and financially struggling) boutique in the coastal town of Cherbourg in Normandy, France, in the late 1950s. Guy (Castelnuovo), is a handsome young auto mechanic who lives with, and cares for, his sickly aunt, godmother Elise. Guy and Genevieve are deeply in love; they want to get married, and they want to name their first child "Francoise". Madeleine (Ellen Farner) is the quiet, shy, dedicated young caregiver who looks after Guys aunt; Madeleine also has feelings for Guy, but has not expressed this. Suddenly Guy is drafted and must leave to become a soldier in the Algerian War. The night before Guy leaves, he and Genevieve pledge their undying love. Then they make love (apparently for the first time) and the very next day, Guy leaves.

After a couple of months it becomes clear that Genevieve is pregnant. She writes to Guy, but she feels abandoned when Guy writes back very infrequently; her mother tells her this is a sign that Guy has forgotten her, and she should give up on him. Genevieve has another suitor in Roland Cassard (Marc Michel), a quiet, kind, young Parisian jeweler, who is very wealthy, and who wants to marry her even after he finds out that she is carrying another mans child. Cassard had previously unsuccessfully wooed the title character in Lola; he relates a version of this story to Madame Emery, who repeatedly urges Genevieve to be sensible and embrace a secure future with Cassard. Genevieve finally decides she will accept Roland, and they are married in a great cathedral, but Genevieve does not seem happy with her choice.

When Guy returns from the war with a slight limp from an injury, he learns that the umbrella store has been sold, and that Genevieve got married and left Cherbourg. As a returning serviceman, Guy has difficulties trying to continue with his previous life. He argues with his boss, quits his job, and goes to drink in a seedy port bar. He spends the night with a friendly prostitute named Jenny, who in the morning reveals that her name is actually Genevieve. Then, when he returns to his apartment, he discovers a distraught Madeleine, who tells him tearfully that his godmother died the night before.

Guy sees that Madeleine loves him, and he 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 first wonders if he is asking her out of despair at Genevieves actions.

The coda is set in December 1963, approximately six years after the earliest events. Guy is now managing the couples Esso station. He is happily married, with his loving wife Madeleine and their little son Francois. It is Christmas Eve. Madeleine and Francois 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 wealthy Genevieve, accompanied by her (and Guys) daughter Francoise, who remains in the car. Shocked to see each other, they go inside the station to talk. Genevieve explains that this is the first time she has been to Cherbourg since her marriage, and she is only in town on a detour. She also explains that her (middle-aged) mother died the previous autumn. It is apparent that her rich husband and her daughter Francoise are the only family she has left; she has had no children with Cassard. The two converse while Genevieves car is being filled with gas, and when Genevieve asks Guy if he wants to meet their daughter, he declines. The ex-lovers part. As the film ends, Guy greets his wife with a kiss and plays with his son in the snow.

Cast

Music

The continuous music score and the colour photography had much to do with the popularity of this film. Formally the work is operatic, with the plot advanced entirely through dialogue sung with accompanying music. The color 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:

The film score established composer Michel Legrands reputation in Hollywood, where he later scored other films, winning three Oscars. In North America, two of the films 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" "Cassards Story"). Both were given new English lyrics by lyricist Norman Gimbel. Tony Bennetts classic performance of the theme song was added to one version of the soundtrack CD.

Restoration

The version released in 2004 on DVD by Koch-Lorber Films 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 could not 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, Demys wife, film director Agnes 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 Demys vision of a fantastically colourful Cherbourg.

In addition, composer Michel Legrand assisted in restoring the original four-track stereo sound masters to digital and remastering his score to produce a higher-quality version, now available on CD.

A digital version was released in 2013, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its original release, on Blu-ray by Cine Tamaris. This version was restored independently of the 2004 version with colour grading supervised by Demys son Mathieu Demy.

Awards

Stage adaptation

In 1979, an English-language stage adaptation, with translated lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, 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 Maitresse and Andrew Durand as Guy. The production was directed by Emma Rice. It was given tryouts at Leicesters 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:

Reception

The film was well received by critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives it a score of 98% based on reviews from 48 critics, judging it "Certified Fresh" with the sites consensus: "Jacques Demy elevates the basic drama of everyday life into a soaring opera full of bittersweet passion and playful charm, featuring a timeless performance from Catherine Deneuve."

It was shown as part of the Cannes Classics section of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

In popular culture

In Mad Men season 4, episode 3 ("The Good News"), Don Draper and Lane Pryce - who are both in the office on New Years Day - discuss going to see this movie together.