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Features: DVD, Widescreen, Dolby Surround Sound, Dolby Digital (5.1), English, Subtitled
Editor's Note
In the innovative film THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, Jacques Demy pays loving homage to the Hollywood musical as well as the French melodrama. The film is shot in Cherbourg, France, using inventive cinematography and blazing colors and textures. Local life is rendered in pink, orange, green, and blue. Wallpapers and umbrella patterns, sweaters and hats, cars and gas stations--each element of the film contributes to the exuberant color and exalted mood. The film is also unique in the sense that every word is sung. The fertile collaboration between Demy and legendary French composer Michel Legrand reaches its climax in the light opera structure and lilting and memorable songs that make up the plot. Catherine Deneuve is the fresh and beautiful 16-year-old Genevieve, pining away in her mother's umbrella shop. When she falls in love with the charming local auto mechanic, Guy (Nino Castelnuovo), worlds collide. The young couple who, in their innocence, believe that love can overcome all obstacles, face many of them, including Genevieve's disapproving mother, an unexpected pregnancy, and Guy's induction into the French Army. Joy and melancholy suffuse every aspect of the film, which explores both the transience of love and the persistence of affection--motifs that Demy would further develop in his follow-up musical, THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT.
| Features | Keep Case | | Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85 | | Audio:
| Dolby Digital 5.1 - English | | Dolby Surround - English | | Interactive Features:
| Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection |
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| Technical Info
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Release Information
|  | Studio: Koch International |
| Release Date: 4/6/2004 |
| Running Time: 92 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1964 | | Catalog ID: 3014 | | UPC: 00741952301493 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: French | | Available Audio Tracks: French | | Available Subtitles: English | | Video: Color |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Cannes (1964) |  | Winner, Palme d'Or | | Jacques Demy, Winner, Palme d'Or |
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| | Professional Reviews | USA Today
"...Bedecked in gorgeous pinks and blues....A sumptuously restored print and novelty value unabated by the passage of three decades..." 04/25/1996 p.8DLos Angeles Times
"...THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG stands as a rare example of the kind of pure cinema that is increasing hard to fine. It's wonderful to have it back..." 04/14/1996 p.21 Total Film
"[Y]ou'll soon be engrossed in atherine Deneuve's mismatch..." 02/01/2004 p.121 Chicago Sun-Times
"[I]t is remembered as a bold original experiment, and now that it is restored and back in circulation, it can also be remembered as a surprisingly effective film, touching and knowing and, like Deneuve, ageless." 04/02/2004 p.40 Uncut
"A still stunning tribute to the MGM musical....The entire show is stolen by a luminescent performance from Catherine Deneuve." 08/01/2001 p.140 Sight and Sound
"Deneuve is sweeter than sugar as the beleaguered heroine, but Anne Vernon, as her foxy, grasping mother, is a worldly, unexpected delight." 01/01/2006 p.86 |
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