This covers a couple of required viewings for me. I got his suggested in the Letterboxd Roulette group, and I have it listed in my Criterion Challenge under the category “European Film.” It’s definitely that!
This was the first Jacques Demy I have watched. I own the Criterion Collection’s “The Essential Jacques Demy“set, but it had been standing by for me to jump into these. I out it oin my Criterion Challenge list because I wanted to make myself start the set.
I think I jumped as soon as the dialog started. I had zero clue this would be a movie that is sung, entirely, throughout the film. Geneviève, played by Catherine Deneuve, is lovely. A sweet young girl who is sure of what she wants in life, is confronted with a major decision. What she undergoes during the story is difficult. At just 16 17, we all understand that she does not know what she’s talking about. She can’t possibly know her life should be what she thinks it should be. She knows she wants to wait for Guy (Nino Castelnuovo), and Guy very much is holding on for her when he returns.
When Roland (Marc Michel) shows up, it appears that the choice is obvious to the viewer. It’s clearly not, but I felt like the movie steered us toward the more stable life as a solution. But maybe it was me. I spent a lot of the time thinking that Geneviève should just go with Roland and forget the whole thing. Unfortunately for my viewing, she has her own feelings, and she loves Guy. So, she spends time pining for him and missing him while the world (and her mom) is telling her to move on. Roland, to his credit, is very gracious and seems to understand the decision he is asking Geneviève to make. Ultimately, she decides to marry Roland.
Guy, for his part, is messed up by this, He returns to learn Geneviève has moved away from Cherbourg, and he goes on a bit of a bender. It’s here he learns two things. First, his aunt has died. Second, he learns that Madeleine (Ellen Farner) is in love with him. As guys named Guy do, he went with the path of least resistance and built a life with Madeleine. His life seems fulfilled.
Geneviève’s life, however, isn’t so fulfilled. As she comes back for that last scene in Cherbourg, we get the understanding that while she is now wealthy and well-off, her life is relatively unhappy. She seems beaten down. And the thing is, she’s only 23!
The only person in this movie who gets what they want is Madeleine. Guy wanted Geneviève. Geneviève wanted Guy, but needed a provider. Roland wanted Lola! And Madeleine, who wanted Guy from the start, hangs on to get the victory here. That last little bit of sadness at the lost connection comes when we learn that both Geneviève and Guy have named their children the same name they had decided on for their own child. I mean, technically, Geneviève’s daughter Françoise is also Guy’s daughter. Not even technically. She is. But Guy doesn’t even got the car to meet her? The 60s in Europe, I guess?
All in all, this movie is great. I had a brief “I need to bail” when the singing started, but I wound up having no trouble with it. It’s not my thing, but it wasn’t enough to keep me away. That’s because the rest of this is so great. It’s a beautiful film filled with insane colors. Did people lose their minds in the 60s because of the wallpaper? Probably. At least they cut away from it fast enough in the movie that I didn’t lose mine.
See this if you haven’t done so. Yeah, it may not be your style, but if you’re open to a good, strong love story with consequences, this is good enough to get past everything you may not like. I loved this.