February 22nd: THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (Jacques Demy, 1964)
NOTE: This film will be projected in the high-definition Blu-ray format.
A young couple struggles to stay together when the man goes off to war.
Writer-director Jacques Demy began his career in the early 1960s during the French New Wave, with his first two films shot in black & white and set against coastal France, portraying romance among various underworld figures in the gambling and criminal scenes.
While he had featured singing in his previous works, with his third film Demy undertook the ambitious experiment of paying tribute to classic Hollywood musicals. Instead of big dance numbers and show-stopping songs, Demy had every line of dialogue sung to musical accompaniment, opera-style.
For his lead actress, Demy (who had previously worked with starlets Anouk Aimee and Jeanne Moreau) took a chance on up-and-comer Catherine Deneuve, only 20 years old at the time. Opposite her is Italian actor Nino Castelnuovo (Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers), and reprising his role in Demy's Lola is Marc Michel.
The film was shot on location in Cherbourg on the northwest coast of France by cinematographer Jean Rabier, who became fellow-New Waver Claude Chabrol's longtime collaborator. As opposed to its Hollywood musical counterparts, the characters and setting of Demy's film are modest, with the simple dreams of getting married and raising a family. Where he more closely matched his inspiration was in the bright, complimentary colors of his sets and costumes, representing the small town in a heightened reality.
The musical score is by jazz composer Michel Legrand, who had previously worked with icons such as Miles Davis and John Coltrane. His work on Umbrellas would make him an international star, eventually working on over 200 scores for film and television (earning three Oscars), 100 albums, and conducting orchestras in cities across North America.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the top prize. It received Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Language Film, Original Score, Song, and Original Screenplay. After decades of deterioration had effected existing prints, the negative was restored by Demy's widow, director Agnes Varda in 2004, and again in 2013 with assistance from their son Mathieu.
Running time is 90 minutes.
A young couple struggles to stay together when the man goes off to war.
Writer-director Jacques Demy began his career in the early 1960s during the French New Wave, with his first two films shot in black & white and set against coastal France, portraying romance among various underworld figures in the gambling and criminal scenes.
While he had featured singing in his previous works, with his third film Demy undertook the ambitious experiment of paying tribute to classic Hollywood musicals. Instead of big dance numbers and show-stopping songs, Demy had every line of dialogue sung to musical accompaniment, opera-style.
For his lead actress, Demy (who had previously worked with starlets Anouk Aimee and Jeanne Moreau) took a chance on up-and-comer Catherine Deneuve, only 20 years old at the time. Opposite her is Italian actor Nino Castelnuovo (Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers), and reprising his role in Demy's Lola is Marc Michel.
The film was shot on location in Cherbourg on the northwest coast of France by cinematographer Jean Rabier, who became fellow-New Waver Claude Chabrol's longtime collaborator. As opposed to its Hollywood musical counterparts, the characters and setting of Demy's film are modest, with the simple dreams of getting married and raising a family. Where he more closely matched his inspiration was in the bright, complimentary colors of his sets and costumes, representing the small town in a heightened reality.
The musical score is by jazz composer Michel Legrand, who had previously worked with icons such as Miles Davis and John Coltrane. His work on Umbrellas would make him an international star, eventually working on over 200 scores for film and television (earning three Oscars), 100 albums, and conducting orchestras in cities across North America.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the top prize. It received Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Language Film, Original Score, Song, and Original Screenplay. After decades of deterioration had effected existing prints, the negative was restored by Demy's widow, director Agnes Varda in 2004, and again in 2013 with assistance from their son Mathieu.
Running time is 90 minutes.
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