The New Wave Musicals of Jacques Demy: The Young Girls of Rochefort

Dir. Jacques Demy
1967, France, 126 min

Jacques Demy followed up The Umbrellas of Cherbourg with another musical about missed connections and second chances, this one a more effervescent confection. Twins Delphine and Solange, a dance instructor and a music teacher (played by real-life sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac), long for big-city life; when a fair comes through their quiet port town, so does the possibility of escape. With its jazzy Michel Legrand score, pastel paradise of costumes, and divine supporting cast (George Chakiris, Grover Dale, Danielle Darrieux, Michel Piccoli, and Gene Kelly), The Young Girls of Rochefort is a tribute to Hollywood optimism from sixties French cinema’s preeminent dreamer.

Presented in partnership with WAG-Qaumajuq. 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).