Jacques Demy's 1964 masterpiece is a pop-art opera, or, to borrow the director's own description, a film in song. This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher (Nino Castelnuovo), a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery (a luminous Catherine Deneuve), an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant (Marc Michel, reprising his role from Demy's masterful debut, Lola). A completely sung movie, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is closest in form to a cinematic opera. Composer Michel Legrand composed the score, modeling it around the patterns of everyday conversation. Umbrellas was re-released in 1997.
Catherine Deneuve | Geneviève Emery |
Nino Castelnuovo | Guy Foucher |
Anne Vernon | Madame Emery |
Marc Michel | Roland Cassard |
Ellen Farner | Madeleine |
Mireille Perrey | Aunt Élise |
Jean Champion | Aubin (as J. Champion) |
Pierre Caden | Bernard (as P. Caden) |
Jean-Pierre Dorat | Jean (as J.P. Dorat) |
Bernard Fradet | Gas Station Apprentice (as B. Fradet) |
Michel Benoist | Umbrella Buyer (as M. Benoist) |
Philippe Dumat | Garage Customer in 1957 (as P. Dumat) |
Dorothée Blank | Girl in Cafe (as D. Blank) |
Jane Carat | Ginny (as J. Carat) |
Harald Wolff | Monsieur Dubourg |