Les parapluies de Cherbourg(The Umbrellas of Cherbourg)
France/West Germany (1964): Drama/Musical/Romance
Jacques Demy's 1964 masterpiece is a pop-art opera, or, to borrow the director's own description, "a film in song." This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher (Nino Castelnuovo), a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Genevieve Emery (a luminous Catherine Deneuve), an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Genevieve make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant (Marc Michel, reprising his role from Demy's masterful Lola, 1961). A completely sung movie, this film is closest in form to a cinematic opera. Michel Legrand composed the score, modeling it around the patterns of everyday conversation. Umbrellas was re-released in 1997. (Beta-Madeleine-Parc / LRO) (Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide)
5 nominations
· Writing (Story and Screenplay written directly for the screen) 1965: Jacques Demy
· Foreign Language Film Award 1964: (France) (Mag Bodard, producer.)
· Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of Music adaptation or treatment) 1965: Michel Legrand
· Music Scoring Awards (Music Score substantially original) 1965: Michel Legrand, Jacques Demy
· Music Best Song 1965: "I Will Wait for You" Michel Legrand - Music, Jacques Demy, Norman Gimbel - Lyric