The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg) (1964)
93%RT Audience Score: 87%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 5 Oscars
6 wins & 7 nominations total
Jacques Demy elevates the basic drama of everyday life into a soaring opera full of bittersweet passion and playful charm, featuring a timeless performance from Catherine Deneuve.
If you’re looking for a movie that will make you feel like you’re floating on a cloud of romance and heartbreak, then The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is the perfect pick. With its vibrant colors, catchy music, and stunning performances, this film will have you swooning from start to finish. And don’t even get us started on that ending – it’s a tearjerker for sure. So grab some tissues and settle in for a cinematic experience that’s both beautiful and bittersweet.
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
Criterion Collection, Zeitgeist Films, Wellspring Media
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Gare, Cherbourg, Manche, France
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
1964
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Mono
-
Aspect ratio:1.66 : 1
-
Runtime:1h 31m
-
Language(s):French, English
-
Country of origin:France, Germany
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Feb 19, 1964 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 6, 2004
Genre(s)
Musical/Romance
Keyword(s)
Musical, Romance, French, Jacques Demy, Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Marc Michel, Anne Vernon, Mag Bodard, Michel Legrand, Criterion Collection, Zeitgeist Films, Wellspring Media, Dolby Stereo, 16mm, Flat, box office, budget, reviewed by Adam Nayman, Kevin Maher, Peter Bradshaw, Nigel Andrews, Noel Murray, Kenneth Turan, Matt Brunson, Mike Massie, Tom Beasley, Allen Almachar, Michael J Casey, Catherine Deneuve as Geneviève Emery, Nino Castelnuovo as Guy Foucher, Anne Vernon as Madame Emery, Marc Michel as Roland Cassard, Ellen Farner as Madeleine, Mireille Perrey as Tante Élise, Geneviève, Guy, Algerian War, Roland, umbrellas, musical film, all dialogue sung, bittersweet passion, playful charm, timeless performance, critic reviews, audience score, streaming, rental, subscription, French New Wave, Michel Legrand’s music, colorful imagery, dreamy sequences, heartbreaking ending
Worldwide gross: $68,991
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $748,022
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,655
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 81,573
US/Canada gross: $28,030
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $303,910
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,458
US/Canada opening weekend: $14,760
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $160,032
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,755
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Nino Castelnuovo – Guy Foucher
Anne Vernon – Madame Emery
Marc Michel – Roland Cassard
Ellen Farner – Madeleine
Mireille Perrey – Tante Élise
Director(s)
Jacques Demy
Writer(s)
Jacques Demy, Jacques Demy
Producer(s)
Mag Bodard
Film Festivals
Cannes
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 5 Oscars
6 wins & 7 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (67) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (66) | Rotten (1)
Charm may be in the eye of the beholder, but if you don’t find this movie irresistible, you should get your eyesight checked.
April 6, 2020
Adam Nayman
The Ringer
TOP CRITIC
Yet the hits, when they come, are immense.
December 9, 2019 | Rating: 5/5
Kevin Maher
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Deneuve brings to the film her own subtly erotic discontent and muted sadness.
December 6, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
The film boasts music by Michel Legrand and token gusts of New Wave realism, lightened and made lithe for a lighter-footed genre. (The heroine loves a car mechanic.) Add colour photography to dazzle.
December 4, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Nigel Andrews
Financial Times
TOP CRITIC
What’s so overpoweringly beautiful about The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg is that it matches human-scaled feelings of regret with the color and intensity of the movies Demy loved as a boy.
July 28, 2014 | Rating: 5/5
Noel Murray
The Dissolve
TOP CRITIC
It continues to charm and delight for the same reasons it did back in 1964.
March 13, 2014
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
Effortlessly romantic but also hauntingly bittersweet.
April 10, 2022 | Rating: 3.5/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
Though the scenario adopts the styling of a tragedy, the music stays consistently peppy, never quite giving in to the dramatic sincerity of the seemingly doomed couple.
August 27, 2020 | Rating: 10/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
The perfect collision of bold cinematic style, warmly-embraced melodrama, and emotional precision.
August 16, 2020 | Rating: 5/5
Tom Beasley
VultureHound
A sweeping love story about a young romance succumbing to the stark realities of life and the inevitability of growing up.
August 6, 2020
Allen Almachar
The MacGuffin
It has one of the best endings in all of cinema – if it doesn’t break your heart, nothing will.
July 26, 2020 | Rating: 4.5/5
Michael J. Casey
Boulder Weekly
What makes Les Parapluies a delight is its almost total involvement with the cinematic medium; its delight in color, movement and gesture; the making of fantasy out of the most common objects of modern existence.
February 5, 2020
Chris Breyer
Los Angeles Free Press…
Plot
16-year-old Genevieve and 20-year-old Guy are very much in love. Her kind mother, who runs an umbrella shop, won’t hear of her marrying, particularly as Guy has yet to complete his compulsory military service. Genevieve is heartbroken when he leaves for his army service in colonial Algeria and is upset to have received only one letter from him in two months. Her mother’s solution to this situation is kind diamond-merchant Roland Cassard, who has helped them in the past.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Catherine Deneuve delivers a “timeless performance” in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, according to Fresh Kernels.
Jacques-Demy.jpg
