I'm not much of a fan of musicals - if I listed off the musicals I've never seen (Um, I've never seen a Gene Kelly movie) you'd probably scream blasphemy - but I'll be goddamned if The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, which I watched last night, isn't one of the prettiest movies ever made.
It did help that the leads, Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo, are practically cartoons they're so perfect.
It did help that the leads, Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo, are practically cartoons they're so perfect.
Yeah, yeah, everbody knows Deneuve is gorgeous... but who is this Castelnuovo guy?
IMDb says he was in The English Patient? I guess, you know, that being 40 years later, he'd aged some, so I wouldn't easily realize who he was.
Anyway, the film's the important thing here; I'd be commiting a grave injustice to just ramble about the pretty man. Pretty, pretty man. Ahem. The film is gorgeous, from start to finish; there are moments that just make your eyes bug out with the beauty of the colors and compositions.
The film is sung from beginning to end, and by far my favorite parts were the most mundane bits of daily conversation - saying hello to the postman, being told to get out of the way - being given operatic weight by the musical accompaniment.
I do believe that Bjork mentioned this film when talking about her "It's Oh So Quiet" music video, and the influence is clear.
Even the story itself is slight and realistic - boy and girl fall in love, get seperated, marry others, regret the loss of their idealistic first loves but have grown older and now have responsibilities - but by its being sung it becomes huge, transcendent. The final scene does feel operatic, like full-blown tragedy, but what it is about, what's actually happening, is minute and sad, yes, but hardly the stuff of Wagner. Yet the film manages to acheive that sort of weight anyway, and you feel knocked out by it in the end.
Anyway, the film's the important thing here; I'd be commiting a grave injustice to just ramble about the pretty man. Pretty, pretty man. Ahem. The film is gorgeous, from start to finish; there are moments that just make your eyes bug out with the beauty of the colors and compositions.
The film is sung from beginning to end, and by far my favorite parts were the most mundane bits of daily conversation - saying hello to the postman, being told to get out of the way - being given operatic weight by the musical accompaniment.
I do believe that Bjork mentioned this film when talking about her "It's Oh So Quiet" music video, and the influence is clear.
Even the story itself is slight and realistic - boy and girl fall in love, get seperated, marry others, regret the loss of their idealistic first loves but have grown older and now have responsibilities - but by its being sung it becomes huge, transcendent. The final scene does feel operatic, like full-blown tragedy, but what it is about, what's actually happening, is minute and sad, yes, but hardly the stuff of Wagner. Yet the film manages to acheive that sort of weight anyway, and you feel knocked out by it in the end.
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2 comments:
I LOVE this film and just bought the complete soundtrack. I never get sick of watching any part of it...the music is so fluid and real. Why don't they make musicals like this anymore?
Though I would rather do Nino, it is a great insult to the CG perfection of Ms. Deneuve to put them on the same level.
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