The sixtieth anniversary of ‘The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg’ is at Cannes

It has been an enormous week for the beloved 1964 musical, The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg on the Cannes Movie Competition the place it gained the 1964 Palme d’Or and went on to worldwide acclaim and 5 Oscar nominations, plus served as one of many key inspirations for Damien Chazelle’s Oscar profitable La La Land.

The movie received a particular sixtieth Anniversary screening as we speak at Cannes Classics of the exquisitely new restoration of the film on the Agnes Varda Theatre which is called after the late director and can also be spouse of late Cherbourg author/director Jacques Demy. This week has additionally seen the World Premieres of two new documentaries associated to the movie right here. On Saturday evening on the Bunuel Theatre within the Palais got here the premiere of As soon as Upon A Time: Michel Legrand , an in depth two hour documentary on the late nice composer of Cherbourg and a lot extra.

Then final evening, additionally on the Bunuel, was the revealing of a brand new documenary, Jacques Demy, Le Rose et le Noir (The Pink And The Black), which chronicles his profession from his first movie to his final, and comprises outstanding interviews with Demy through the years in addition to terrific behind the scenes footage from all his movies, together with in fact The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg, one of many true treasures of French cinema and some of the uncommon movies ever made since each single line was sung reasonably than spoken.

Catherine Deneuve, solely 20 when she made the movie, performed umbrella store clerk Genevieve, and Nino Castelnuovo (who died in 2021 at age 84) performed storage mechanic Man. They had been a younger couple in love who had been separated when Man needed to go away for 2 years to hitch the military. She remained behind however was pregnant along with his little one. Issues sadly had been by no means the identical when he returns. It is vitally attention-grabbing to notice that the storyline nonetheless has resonance 60 years later as one of many Cannes Movie Competition premieres tonight, Gilles Lelouche’s Beating Hearts has an analogous, though edgier, Romeo And Juliet –type plotline with two younger individuals in love, separated, then introduced again collectively in a bittersweet reunion. It acquired a 15 minute standing ovation 60 years aside in Cannes from one other tragedy-tinged love story revolving round younger individuals.

The Cannes Movie Competition’s creative director Thierry Fremaux appeared to introduce The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg’s packed screening (or because the French wish to say “full”) together with Demy’s daughter Rosalie Varda, who additionally was on stage final evening for the Demy docu premiere. She and her brother Mathieu Demy have been answerable for persevering with on the legacy of their father, particularly since Agnes Varda handed away in 2019. She had been a ferocious keeper of the Demy flame, even directing her personal documentary Jacquot Of Nantes in 1991, adopted by The Younger Ladies Flip 25 in 1993, a documentary celebrating 1968’s Demy basic musical, The Younger Ladies Of Rochefort which featured once more Catherine Deneuve, her sister Francoise Dorleac and Hollywood musical stars Gene Kelly and George Chakiris. It’s a musical movie, like The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg that can also be an inspiration for Chazelle’s La La Land.

I’ve seen Cherbourg many instances and it by no means will get previous, a putting and colourful easy love story set to music. There may be nothing fairly prefer it. It was not solely nominated for the 1964 Greatest Overseas Language Movie Oscar (it misplaced to Italy’s Yesterday Right now & Tomorrow), but additionally the subsequent yr as properly when it certified for different classes and was up for 4 Oscars together with Greatest Music “I Will Wait For You”, Greatest Tailored Musical Rating, Greatest Unique Music Rating, and Greatest Unique Screenplay, nonetheless the one screenplay that was all sung ever to get an Academy Award nomination in a writing class.

Hopefully the Legrand and Demy documentaries will discover U.S. distribution. They’re each fairly wonderful, significantly As soon as Upon A Time: Michel Legrand (aka Il Etait Une Fois Michel Legrand). It covers his outstanding profession in fact together with three Oscar wins in three completely different music classes: “The Windmills Of Your Thoughts” for Greatest Music from 1968’s The Thomas Crown Affair; 1971’s Summer season Of ’42 for Greatest Unique Rating; and 1983’s Yentl within the Music Rating class.

The perfect a part of it revolves round what would transform the ultimate live performance ever for Le Grand on the Philharmonic in 2018. He had taken unwell and there was some query whether or not he would even be capable to seem. He was weak however director David Hertzog Dessites chronicles each second each on and off stage, even with questions if Le Grand would/might return after the intermission. He did and ended up conducting his gorgeous rating for The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg. It’s completely stirring and a outstanding first movie for Dessites who was a self-professed fan of Le Grand and approached him in Cannes the place he was doing a live performance throughout the movie pageant in 2017. It’s a disgrace Le Grand, who died in 2019, didn’t reside to see this glorious movie and tribute. After Saturday’s sceening was over somebody stood up and sang acapella variations of “The Summer season Is aware of” and led the viewers in “I Will Wait For You”. Solely in Cannes.

For me this sudden journey into the lives of Michel Le Grand and Jacques Demy, and the return 60 years later to The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg was like a dream. Or as Juliette Binoche stated upon profitable an Oscar in 1998, “like a French dream”.