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
The "Recordatio" Cinema Club 