A Poet
$11.50
Dir. Jacques Demy
1964, France, 92 min
French with English subtitles
An angelically beautiful Catherine Deneuve was launched to stardom by this dazzling musical heart-tugger from Jacques Demy. She plays an umbrella-shop owner’s delicate daughter, glowing with first love for a handsome garage mechanic, played by Nino Castelnuovo. When the boy is shipped off to fight in Algeria, the two lovers must grow up quickly. Exquisitely designed in a kaleidoscope of colors, and told entirely through the lilting songs of the great composer Michel Legrand, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is one of the most revered and unorthodox movie musicals of all time.
Presented in partnership with WAG-Qaumajuq and generously sponsored by FRANK Gear.
One of the most gifted filmmakers to emerge during the French New Wave, Jacques Demy created a fascinating body of work characterized by fate and coincidence, doomed love, and storybook romance. His frequent collaborations with composer Michel Legrand give another distinctive quality to his melancholic tales of love. These films—ranging from musical to melodrama to fantasy—are triumphs of brilliant color, exquisite framing, and elegantly choreographed camera work.
This August, in partnership with WAG-Qaumajuq, The Winnipeg Film Group is excited to present The New Wave Musicals of Jacques Demy. Join us at the WAG Rooftop Sculpture Garden for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), Donkey Skin (1970), and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967).
