I will wait for you...
Added 11/21/2009
A quick bit of personal history: I first saw this in May 1996 theatrically, in a newly-restored print. It was about a month after breaking up a 6-year relationship which I didn't want to end, though I should have. She was probably the least-romantic person I've ever met - not that she didn't have "romantic" notions in the larger sense, nearly everyone does, but the romantic part of relationships she didn't get. Or her idea of romance was just so remote and unexplainable that I could never figure it out, and she could never have told me. Why it took us 6 years to know for sure that we weren't meant for each other, I'll never know.
She probably hated this film.
I, on the other hand, am as enraptured by it now as I was on that first viewing 13 years ago and the couple of times in between. From the first shot of the harbour of Cherbourg panning gracefully down to an overhead shot of candy-colored umbrellas in the rain, to the final mirroring shot of an equally artificial-looking Esso station in the snow five years later, it's pure sentimental, stylized magic.
Some have mentioned that there isn't much in the way of character development in this admittedly very simple story of young lovers parted by war and ultimately finding new relationships and lives apart from each other - but I think they're missing the point. It's not supposed to be terribly real, or rather it is suffused throughout with a sense of heightened reality, exemplified most obviously in the entirely sung dialog and in the brightness of the color scheme, but also in the intensity of emotions that could, after all, be experienced by any of us. It doesn't matter that I don't really "know" Geneviève or Guy - they are any young lovers and what the film is about, it seems to me, is that bittersweet feeling we all have towards our first loves. At the end of the film, both are married and it is fairly clear that they have made the right choices - one thing I find fascinating is that the two leads are both rather weak and passive, and in both cases they end up with stronger, more aggressive and more competent partners. Had they ended up with each other, what kind of future would they have had?
The music - well, you can't take the music out, or it does, in fact, show its thinnness. Here's a great quote from Jonathan Rosenbaum's long review regarding composer Michel Legrand's contribution to the film:
"Though Legrand isn't credited as the film's cowriter, his collaboration with Demy, who wrote the lyrics, suggests that he may well deserve to be, for this is a film in which the score and the narrative are inseparable, shaped to the same architecture. Demy once noted that Umbrellas should be described as a film "in song" the way that some films are 'in color'."
If one can't get past the notion that this is, in fact, a romantic fantasy amped up to the nth degree through color, through its plot absurdities (one night of passion resulting in Geneviève having to marry the diamond merchant, Guy's beloved godmother dying on the same day he learns of Geneviève's marriage and quits his job, etc) and most of all through the hyper-romantic music which runs the gamut from jazz to chanson, then there's not much I can say. You have to fall under the spell and take it as it is, not ask for what it doesn't provide - asking for more realism in the relationships seems to me to be missing the point.
For me the only real flaw in the film at all is Deneuve - not at all bad, but at 21 she really is a little too old for the naivete of Geneviève; this though is a very minor point in a film that I can never grow tired of. I like Demy's next musical, THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT, possibly even more -- and I'd suggest all who love this to make that a priority. All who hated this of course should avoid it like the plague, unless they can find a way to put themselves under the spell that they somehow missed in watching this sublime confection...
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Quite possibly the greatest movie ever made.....
Added 5/29/2009
Each time I see this film, I am amazed at its brilliance. The pacing of the film in coordination with the music (and lyrics) is simply astounding. Also, given when the film was made I am still perplexed by the
cinematography of this masterpiece. There are shots which I can't quite figure out how they were achieved....especially ones where there are mirrors in the scenes. Quite possibly the greatest movie ever made, certainly the greatest " musical " movie ever made. I am impressed and moved each time I see it.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Utterly beautiful
Added 4/19/2009
I'm a big fan of musicals, but when I first started watching this film for the first time and heard the mechanics "sing-talking" to each other I have to admit that I giggled a little, and I wasn't sure how seriously I was going to be able to take the film. But then I kept watching, and before I knew it I was crying, completely swept up in what I now consider one of the most beautiful films ever made. It's one of those films where everything just works together perfectly to create an absolute work of art - the story and the performers and the music and the cinematography are utterly beautiful. And then there's the final shot - which is quite possibly the most beautiful in all of cinema. Mature, gorgeous, and unforgettable. A masterpiece of cinema.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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beautiful, but ...
Added 3/24/2009
Watched this the other day for the first time in years. Deneuve (nee Dorleac, sister of Francoise who died much too young) is incredibly cute and adorable and Legrand's tunes are effective. So what's the problem? Call me a contrarian but when you come right down to it, things don't quite add up, or, rather, they add up to a less than pretty picture.
Genevieve becomes pregnant with Guy's child, off he goes to war (Algeria) and she ... well ... how to put this ... slowly forgets her love for him and does the practical thang and ... marries the wealthy jewelry dealer dude who loves her but not vice-versa. Say what? Guy comes back from the war, sees that Genevieve married someone else, and marries sweet, lovely Madeline who loves him but not vice-versa.
So, two people start out in love only to end up marrying people they don't love. Yes, life can be like that, but the message that comes across is that it's all Genevieve's fault for not having the fortitude and faith to wait for her guy Guy. She forgets all about being pregnant with Guy's child and gets ... practical, when all she has to do is wait a couple of years. Huh?
What was Demy thinking blaming the woman? This isn't just any woman. It's the beautiful, sweet, adorable, Chanel #5 Catherine Deneuve, who I'm absolutely positively sure can do no wrong.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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If it takes forever I'll wait for you...
Added 12/6/2008
A visual and auditory masterpiece...a work of art. At least as important the film is INTELLIGENT. This is a genuinely beautiful film but, for all its beauty, it is at the same time realistic and perhaps even cynical. It is, in fact, a deconstruction of the classic romantic fable.
The 16 y.o. Genevieve, who is about to be separated from her boyfriend, the garage mechanic, Guy, because of the Algerian War, sings a haunting tune that includes the lyrics... 'If it takes forever I will wait for you...' Forever? Well, maybe not. Genevieve, confronted with an unexpected pregnancy and a Guy who seldom writes, soon turns to the thoroughly likeable and generous and well-to-do Roland Cassard, who loves Genevieve and wants to marry her despite the fact that she is pregnant. Encouraged by her mother Genevieve turns to him and, together, they plan for the arrival of 'their child'.
Guy, injured by a grenade shell fragment, returns to find that his girlfriend and child now belong to another. No, I won't attempt to tell the whole story. See it yourself and you won't be disappointed.
For all the beautiful characters, perhaps the most wonderful and genuinely decent person is Madeleine who is in the background for most of the film. Despite Catherine Deneuve's [Genevieve's] vulnerability and delicate beauty, Madeleine...for me, at least...was the real star.
Ron Braithwaite, author of novels--'Skull Rack' and 'Hummingbird God'--on the Conquest of Mexico
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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I will wait for you...
Added 11/21/2009
A quick bit of personal history: I first saw this in May 1996 theatrically, in a newly-restored print. It was about a month after breaking up a 6-year relationship which I didn't want to end, though I should have. She was probably the least-romantic person I've ever met - not that she didn't have "romantic" notions in the larger sense, nearly everyone does, but the romantic part of relationships she didn't get. Or her idea of romance was just so remote and unexplainable that I could never figure it out, and she could never have told me. Why it took us 6 years to know for sure that we weren't meant for each other, I'll never know.
She probably hated this film.
I, on the other hand, am as enraptured by it now as I was on that first viewing 13 years ago and the couple of times in between. From the first shot of the harbour of Cherbourg panning gracefully down to an overhead shot of candy-colored umbrellas in the rain, to the final mirroring shot of an equally artificial-looking Esso station in the snow five years later, it's pure sentimental, stylized magic.
Some have mentioned that there isn't much in the way of character development in this admittedly very simple story of young lovers parted by war and ultimately finding new relationships and lives apart from each other - but I think they're missing the point. It's not supposed to be terribly real, or rather it is suffused throughout with a sense of heightened reality, exemplified most obviously in the entirely sung dialog and in the brightness of the color scheme, but also in the intensity of emotions that could, after all, be experienced by any of us. It doesn't matter that I don't really "know" Geneviève or Guy - they are any young lovers and what the film is about, it seems to me, is that bittersweet feeling we all have towards our first loves. At the end of the film, both are married and it is fairly clear that they have made the right choices - one thing I find fascinating is that the two leads are both rather weak and passive, and in both cases they end up with stronger, more aggressive and more competent partners. Had they ended up with each other, what kind of future would they have had?
The music - well, you can't take the music out, or it does, in fact, show its thinnness. Here's a great quote from Jonathan Rosenbaum's long review regarding composer Michel Legrand's contribution to the film:
"Though Legrand isn't credited as the film's cowriter, his collaboration with Demy, who wrote the lyrics, suggests that he may well deserve to be, for this is a film in which the score and the narrative are inseparable, shaped to the same architecture. Demy once noted that Umbrellas should be described as a film "in song" the way that some films are 'in color'."
If one can't get past the notion that this is, in fact, a romantic fantasy amped up to the nth degree through color, through its plot absurdities (one night of passion resulting in Geneviève having to marry the diamond merchant, Guy's beloved godmother dying on the same day he learns of Geneviève's marriage and quits his job, etc) and most of all through the hyper-romantic music which runs the gamut from jazz to chanson, then there's not much I can say. You have to fall under the spell and take it as it is, not ask for what it doesn't provide - asking for more realism in the relationships seems to me to be missing the point.
For me the only real flaw in the film at all is Deneuve - not at all bad, but at 21 she really is a little too old for the naivete of Geneviève; this though is a very minor point in a film that I can never grow tired of. I like Demy's next musical, THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT, possibly even more -- and I'd suggest all who love this to make that a priority. All who hated this of course should avoid it like the plague, unless they can find a way to put themselves under the spell that they somehow missed in watching this sublime confection...
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Quite possibly the greatest movie ever made.....
Added 5/29/2009
Each time I see this film, I am amazed at its brilliance. The pacing of the film in coordination with the music (and lyrics) is simply astounding. Also, given when the film was made I am still perplexed by the
cinematography of this masterpiece. There are shots which I can't quite figure out how they were achieved....especially ones where there are mirrors in the scenes. Quite possibly the greatest movie ever made, certainly the greatest " musical " movie ever made. I am impressed and moved each time I see it.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
Utterly beautiful
Added 4/19/2009
I'm a big fan of musicals, but when I first started watching this film for the first time and heard the mechanics "sing-talking" to each other I have to admit that I giggled a little, and I wasn't sure how seriously I was going to be able to take the film. But then I kept watching, and before I knew it I was crying, completely swept up in what I now consider one of the most beautiful films ever made. It's one of those films where everything just works together perfectly to create an absolute work of art - the story and the performers and the music and the cinematography are utterly beautiful. And then there's the final shot - which is quite possibly the most beautiful in all of cinema. Mature, gorgeous, and unforgettable. A masterpiece of cinema.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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