Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg)

Free Screening. Tuesday 11 November , doors open at 6 for the programme to start at 6:30 to conclude at 8:45. This will be in the Student Union, Memorial Theatre (SUMT 228; follow signage), Te Herenga Waka Vitoria University of Wellington (entrance via Kelburn Parade). See map of the campus here.

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg), 

Jacques Demy, 1964 (91 minutes).

With Catherine Deneuve and music by Michel Legrand.

There will be an introduction and a Q&A discussion after the film.

In Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, Jacques Demy transforms a simple love story into an enchanting and bittersweet musical. In the rain-soaked port of Cherbourg, Geneviève, played by Catherine Deneuve, propelled to stardom after her first major role, and Guy (Nino Castelnuovo) are separated when he is drafted for war in Algeria. Every line is sung (Michel Legrand is the film composer), every emotion is painted in luminous hues (poetic realism meets pop art), as Demy fuses everyday realism with operatic stylisation. Beneath its pastel beauty lies melancholy: love eroded by class, an unpopular colonial war and social conventions. Demy’s art finds poetry in artifice, a fragile harmony between dream, music, and loss. Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival.

In his introduction to the film and in its subsequent Q&A session, Assoc. Prof.  Thierry Jutel (who, like Jacques Demy, hails from Nantes) along with Dr Missy Molloy from the Film Programme at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington will discuss the iconic status of the film in French popular culture and its influence on generations of filmmakers. This will be Dr Jutel’s last public lecture at Victoria prior to his retirement.

An event facilitated by the support of Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington and the Embassy of France in Wellington.