The Umbrellas of Cherbourg: No 14 best romantic film of all time

Jacques Demy, 1964

Against a sumptuous backdrop of jewel-coloured houses filled with candy-striped rooms, two of the most enchanting young leads ever captured on celluloid – Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo – fall passionately in love. From the off, Jacques Demy's 1964 masterpiece, in which every line is sung, impresses as a super-stylish paean to the MGM musicals, complete with a swinging score by Michel Legrand and bustling street scenes choreographed with the minute precision and contagious energy of Gene Kelly's finest work.

But if 50s America was the land of the happy ever after, Demy's film marks very different, distinctly European territory, as a call-up to the Algerian war for Castelnuovo leaves his newly pregnant lover bereft. Gradually the fairytale withers, and yet the music carries on. The film is transformed into something entirely unique – a musical as bright and beautiful as any you'll ever see, which swiftly becomes a sad and soulful tale characterised by that least romantic of all things: disappointed compromise. Demy doesn't pull his emotional punches – the pain of loss and dying hope is palpable in every visually delectable frame – and his star-crossed lovers keep singing right up to a snow-laden, final scene of devastating emotional power. Unforgettable.

Contributor

Jane Graham

The GuardianTramp

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