Les parapluies de Cherbourg - Jacques Demy encore

Geneviève, an umbrella saleswoman from Cherbourg, is head over heels in love with car mechanic Guy, and the feeling is mutual. But then he is called up for military service and leaves for Algeria for two years. Shortly afterwards, she discovers she is pregnant with his child. Meanwhile, the wealthy jeweller Roland Cassard has set his eyes on her and is keen to marry her, even though she is pregnant by another man. Geneviève’s mother is very much in favour of this.

Usually, in a musical, acted scenes are interspersed with songs. Not so in this film, in which all the dialogue is sung, set to music by Michel Legrand. Thanks to the alienating effect of this and the stylised use of colour, this film forms a genre in its own right. A successful genre, as it earned director Jacques Demy, amongst other honours, the Palme d’Or at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival. Catherine Deneuve, then aged 20, who already had a few minor film roles to her name, made her definitive breakthrough with her portrayal of Geneviève.