The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

The story of young Geneviève's first love with Guy, a car mechanic only slightly older than her, began its journey like most French New Wave films: as a low-key, black-and-white film shot on location. However, consultations with the director's regular collaborator, composer Michel Legrand, who sensed a "musical dimension" in the material, led to the project slowly changing. First towards individual musical numbers, then to the decision to shoot the entire film as a musical. And with expressive colors inspired by Henri Matisse.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg was created at a time when the great American film musical (one of the director's acknowledged inspirations) was in decline and reveled in large, spectacular, albeit sometimes cumbersome, musical numbers. Demy's film, on the other hand, relied on a simple, intimate story that, despite its stylized form, remains firmly anchored in reality and, moreover, directly and indirectly responds to current social issues.