Jacques Demy

Jacques Demy



Lola (1961)

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)



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3. The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)

Despite being his last 'celebrated' film, Jacques Demy's 1967 musical "The Young Girls of Rochefort" would cement Demy as one of the greatest lovers of cinema. The film is a colorful extravaganza of Golden Age Hollywood throwbacks, an ensemble of desperate characters, and a musical score worth spending an evening on. The film's joie-de-vivre attitude of life is typical for Demy's sense of romanticism. The film celebrates life, love, music, and cinema, and rolls them all into one singular experience. "The Young Girls of Rochefort" is an film that is impossible not to fall head over heels for - every character, every musical number, and every slice of stark color that alluminates the screen. Although his career wouldn't be equivalent afterwards, Demy made his mark on cinema forever.



2. Lola (1961)


The characters of Jacques Demy's 1961 film "Lola" are all looking for connection and love, which is why the melancholic 'just-missing' of each other creates a very New Wave-esque irony. Centering on a young man who reunites with a long, lost childhood friend, the film operates as an ensemble. It is full of characters all desperately looking for something in their middling, aimless life. The thematic point of the film lies in the romanticization of our characters by Demy's breezy, 'musical-without-music' style. As one of the characters note, life is not like a movie. However, Demy renders the lives of these stuck individuals, all their joys and sorrows, as something beautiful, romantic, and yes, even cinematic. "Lola" is a reminder that life itself, even all its mundanities, can be as dramatic and bold as the lives played out on a cinema screen.




1. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)


The very first piece of information you'll ever hear about Jacques Demy's 1964 musical "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" is that every single line of dialogue is sung. While this may detract some and entice others, one thing is for sure: you will fall into the story regardless and forget you're even watching a musical. As you sink into the tale of love, loss, and circumstance, with all its recitative dialogue, you will feel every once of emotion. Demy's intention seems to be that everyday stories of normal people in the heart wrenching circumstances of life are just as cinematic and beautiful as anything cinema could offer. This is precisely the thematic premise of his previous film, 1961's "Lola."  Demy is taking hold of the concepts introduced by Rene Clair in his 1930 poetic realist piece "Under the Roofs of Paris" and updating them to the styles and aesthetics of a 1950s Hollywood musical. The result is a colorful, emotional, and brutally melancholic film that has cemented itself as one of the greatest works ever put on screen.

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