AdamMitchyCat When this movie began, I was madly in love with it. I loved the colors and the cinematography and the opening titles and everything about the first sequence. And then we meet the characters, and we are charmed by their voices and how adorable the movie is, and the entire film keeps you invested. I was really into it until the last 20 minutes when the charm sort of wore itself off after a while. And that is NOT saying that the ending is bad, it isn't; it's just that this film might be a little longer than it needs to be. But the beautiful colors and glamor of the actors make this movie enjoyable, and the music is very nice to listen to. It sort of is like a modern day (well, 1960s) opera. No words are spoken; they are just sung. And it works, and the characters are interesting and the scenario is interesting. It's just that as it god near the end, I was looking at my watch a little more and more. It is worth checking out, and it is adorable, and it is a piece of film history. It's a wonderful experience that I think I could enjoy once, but not again after that.

lasttimeisaw A three-act musical (or four if one counts the final reunion independently) with all dialogue sung by its characters, the second of its unique kind I've watched so far, the previous one is Tom Hooper's LES MISÉRABLES (2012, 6/10), THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG is director Jacques Demy's third feature, a controversial Palme d'Or winner, more for its groundbreaking technique than its own substance, nevertheless it instantly launched the starlet Catherine Deneuve into stardom and has initiated her extended and illustrious career not only limited in the French cinema.Denueve's glacial beauty is her calling card even in her earlier stage (the dismissive DONKEY SKIN 1970, 4/10, another Demy-Denueve collaboration, does her wrong to disguise her as a free-spirit and spontaneous princess), at the age of 20, she plays a young girl Geneviève living with her widow mother Madame Emery (Vernon), they are running a chic umbrella shop in Cherbourg in 1957, Geneviève's sweetheart is Guy (Castelnuovo), a young boy working in the local garage and lives with his auntie Élise (Perrey) and an orphan girl Madeleine (Farner). The film is slickly divided into three parts: departure, absence and return, Guy is mandatorily drafted in the army in 1958, two lovers have to be split for two years. In the second act, told in Geneviève's perspective, she is pregnant with Guy's baby, but gradually persuaded by her mother to marry an affluent man Roland Cassard (Michel) and they left Cherbourg after the wedlock; and in the third act, Guy returns from the war, becomes despondent of Geneviève's betrayal, but life must go on, he inherits some fortune from Élise and marries Madeleine, and they have a boy named François.Years later, they inadvertently meet at the gas station owned by Guy, Geneviève is accompanied by their young daughter Françoise, always the most awkward reunion for two former lovers, the film ends in a more rational note when they gingerly trade conversations, leaving too many unsaid undertones flowing torrentially, and a timely farewell is a befitting coda to the lingering blues. The story may be a bit sad and nondescript, but the biggest asset is its varicolored locale settings, costumes and coiffure à la mode, even for the not-so-rich protagonists. Guy's brown suit ill-matches his black shoe, nevertheless his azure and pink shirts are divine, as for Denueve and Vernon, the daughter-mother pair dominates the show every time with their distinctive flair for haute couture and color compatibility.Also, let's not forget it is an out-and-out musical, singing voices are all dubbed at post- production nevertheless, French is already mellifluous in speaking, so the singing part sounds like an unremitting bombardment of chansons, which inconveniently degrades into monotony soon after, thus it does demand a more tonality-friendly ear to revel in the excessiveness, after all, it is a love letter to the sentimental romantics, a lovely treat for eyeballs and eardrums equally.

Ronnie Spencer when I was in high school, taking french, the teacher would occasionally push a tape into a slot and show a "movie." the idea was for us kids to hear the language. well, this was one of the movies. at the time, my feelings concerning "umbrellas" were... truthfully, I didn't know what to think. as a seventeen year old I don't think I would have recommended it. channel surfing last night I came across it again on TCM. what a difference 9000 days makes. this is a very unique film. it's not a musical, even with the sung dialog, jazzy score and saturated colors. it's stylish camera work/art direction doesn't contradict the neorealism aspect either. It enhances it.even with the "star crossed lovers" aspect, the film isn't sentimental or corny. and the socio-economic angle is also treated tastefully.This is an ART film in the true sense of the term. and Anne Vernon. Je t'aime.

Sergeant_Tibbs The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a unique film experiment. It's a musical where every line is sung. Even the mundane lines which have little to do with the film. While this style could be expected to be under threat of being too sweet, the film avoids this by approaching sentimentality with heart-wrenching reality, which the musical aspect of the film highlights. It's a love story. And the film is aware that it begins as a movie love story, addressed by the fact that the protagonist genuinely expects to die if they are parted. Instead of dying, the film explores one of my favourite deep subjects in art, by comparing the expectations of love brought on by pop culture with the harsh reality without being overdramatic. It's nostalgic and extremely genuine.As expected, the omnipresent music is absolutely wonderful and can speak for the film's emotion even without translation. How they managed to fit in the dialogue so fluently is incredible, let alone perform it. The set decoration and costume design is another highlight as well, with bright and bold colours, which the sweeping camera movement compliments perfectly. Despite the broad story, the film is surprisingly small scale with a limited use of sets, but the colour palette makes the world feel huge. There's some incredible use of match cuts as well. Though this film has a fantastic and charming atmosphere, it's the simple and effective storytelling that makes it, particularly the heartbreaking and subtle end. Bona fide classic.9/10