Two films from the fabulous Jacques Demy that take us on a journey from Nantes to Cherbourg, from simple black & white to vibrant colour, and from spoken dialogue to sung Musical. Both films create a magical world of beautiful people, and yet a world that is all too real beneath the surface. Demy builds his own cinematic universe inhabited by characters who cross into other films, as we experience here with his alter ego, Roland Cassard.

Roland bumps into his old childhood friend Lola, now a cabaret dancer, who awaits the return of her long-lost lover and the father of her child. Their lives are intertwined with Frankie, an American sailor, Madame Desnoyers and her daughter Cécile, as they each seek to fulfill their hearts’ desires.

In The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Guy and Genevieve are young and in love, but must undergo a long separation when Guy is drafted into the Algerian War. Things are further complicated when Roland Cassard enters the scene… Demy utilises dazzling colours, and beautiful music (the whole film is sung) to tell this amazing story of love, disappointment, and redemption.

IN THIS POST

*Two Portraits of Longing and Love by Jacques Demy By A.A. Crayley

*Absence in Jacques Demy’s Lola and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg by Jeremy Ambrose

Warning: The reflections below contain spoilers. The aim is to share these insights with all who are inspired to watch these films and help to draw out even more from the experience. So watch the films first and read the reflections afterwards…

*Two Portraits of Longing and Love by Jacques Demy By A.A. Crayley

Watching Jacques Demy’s film Les Parapluies de Cherbourg is a delightfully sensual experience. The colours of the film pleasantly refresh us with their intensity and candour as though we’d been caught without an umbrella in a sudden downpour. The characters sing and move with a graciousness that conveys their exuberance for the joys of life and love. It is a beautiful film, not because tragedy and loss are absent but precisely because tragedy, loss and joy mix so effortlessly.

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*Absence in Jacques Demy’s Lola and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg by Jeremy Ambrose

Absence is a frightening concept, especially in regards to memory, belief and love. Of all the filmmakers, the one who seems to grasp the truth of absence better than most is Jacques Demy, as can be seen in these two extraordinary films, Lola and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

In Lola, all the characters seem to be lacking something. There is an absence in their lives and none of them are truly happy. Instead, they are all infused with an overwhelming sense of desire, which often translates into sexual longing, seeming impossible to fulfil and in that impossibility perhaps revealing something more that remains unseen.

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