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 Geneviève 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 Geneviève 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 debut, Lola). A completely sung movie, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is closest in form to a cinematic opera. Composer Michel Legrand composed the score, modeling it around the patterns of everyday conversation. Umbrellas was re-released in 1997. Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Genre: Musical
- Category Musical Romance, Melodrama
- Theme: Star-Crossed Lovers, Love Triangles, Romantic Betrayal, Home From the War, Lovers Reunited, First Love
- Studio: Koch Lorber Films
- Run Time: 01 hr 32 min
- Edition: Restored / Remastered
- Language: French
- Subtitle Language: English
- Picture Format: widescreen
- Release Date: April 6, 2004
- Lead Actor: Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon, Marc Michel, Ellen Farner
- Supporting Actor: Dorothée Blanc, Mireille Perrey, Rosalie Varda, Harald Wolff, Jean Champion
- Director: Jacques Demy
awards
- Nominations: Academy Awards (5)
- Nominee: Academy Awards, Best Original Score, 1965, Michel Legrand
- Nominee: Academy Awards, Best Foreign Language Film, 1964, Jacques Demy
- Nominee: Academy Awards, Best Original Screenplay, 1965, Jacques Demy
- Nominee: Academy Awards, Best Song, 1965, Jacques Demy, Norman Gimbel, Michel Legrand
- Nominee: Academy Awards, Best Adapted Score, 1965, Jacques Demy, Michel Legrand