The REEL Addict 

After years of never getting around to it, last night I finally popped in Jacques Demy’s 1964 film, LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG (THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG) – a wondrous, lovely homage to the tragic/melodramatic narratives and sung dialogue of operas, as well as the visual style of classic Hollywood musicals. It’s a movie filled with gorgeous music, colors, cinematography, and – perhaps above all else – people.

None are so stunning though as a twenty-one year old, Catherine Deneuve. She radiates beauty to a point where she seems to almost become ethereal, yet without ever sacrificing a shred of natural presence and accessibility (which is saying something given that we’re dealing with the hyper-emotions of opera). There are few times I can think of in my movie-watching lifetime where I was that transfixed, that enamored, that hypnotized by an actress (or actor for that matter). When she was off screen, I was desperately waiting for her to return. The few times she breaks the fourth wall, looks directly into the camera – and therefore at me – I felt myself just a little bit thunderstruck and lost in the glaring glow of the lightning.

Much of it is the character and Deneuve’s portrayal of this young girl, infectiously radiating with love in a way that makes you almost sigh and think either “This is what it should be like” or “Ah, I remember those days of being young and in love” or “I can only hope someone loves me like that one day” (or make you grateful that someone already does). Even when things deviate slightly towards the melodramatic– as they inevitably will in an opera inspired narrative – Deneuve handles the character’s grief with a quiet dignity, even when she’s pleading (I dare anyone’s heart not to break during the famous “(If It Takes Forever) I Will Wait For You”).

In THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, Catherine Deneuve is the perfect example of what a rare occasion it is to find a stunning beauty – with a great deal of talent – used to compliment a film and character, rather than gratuitously flaunted as spectacle.