Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		5.0

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 28, 2014

Winner of the prestigious Palme d'Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Jacques Demy's "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg" a.k.a. "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (1964) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers; audio interview with Catherine Deneuve; video interview with Virginie Ledoyen; stills gallery; Marie Genin and Serge July's documentary "Once Upon a Time... The Umbrellas of Cherborg"; the documentary "The World of Jacques Demy"; video interview with Geoff Andrew; and more. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

The lovers

This wonderful film directed by Jacques Demy pays tribute to the classic Hollywood musicals. It has one of the greatest scores ever composed for a French film by the legendary Michel Legrand.

Like an opera, the film is divided into multiple acts, each focusing on a specific time period. In Act I, titled The Departure, the young lovers Geneviève (Catherine Deneuve, Belle de jour, Contract in Blood) and Guy (Nino Castelnuovo, Camille 2000, Rocco and His Brothers) plan to create a family but face the disapproval of Genevieve’s mother Madame Emery (Anne Vernon, The Woman Is a Stranger, Il Generale della Rovere), who runs a small umbrella shop. Madame Emery does not like Guy because he is an ordinary car mechanic who cannot possibly offer the type of life Genevieve deserves. As the film progresses, it is also revealed that Madame Emery is also facing a serious financial dilemma: She has to make a large payment to keep her shop but does not have the money. A possible solution to Madame Emery’s financial troubles emerges when the young, wealthy and single diamond dealer Roland Cassard (Marc Michel, Lola, Le Trou) agrees to purchase her jewels. But he later on visits her shop, the dealer also makes it clear that he is interested the beautiful Genevieve. Meanwhile, Guy is drafted for two years by the army. Act I ends at Cherbourg’s train station where Genevieve vows to wait for Guy.

In Act II, titled The Absence, Genevieve reveals to her mother that she is pregnant. At the same time, Roland appears again and professes his love for Genevieve. With hardly any news from Guy, Madame Emery convinces the confused and insecure Genevieve that the best thing for her would be to marry Roland. Later on, the overjoyed Roland vows to raise Guy’s child as his own.

In Act III, The Return, Guy comes home and discovers that no one is waiting for him. He starts drinking and spending the money he has saved in the local brothels. Eventually, the young and beautiful Madeleine (Ellen Farner), who has been taking care of Guy’s sick aunt, offers to help him rebuild his life.

The film is simple but enormously moving. Key sequences from it, such as the one where Genevieve looks at the train that is taking Guy away from her, are still vividly remembered by many who saw The Umbrellas of Cherbourg when it was first screened theatrically. The main music theme is now also legendary.

The entire dialog in the film is sung. Even the casual exchanges have a terrific rhythm that supports the film’s structure. The music also enhances the dramatic atmosphere without unnecessarily prolonging important sequences.

Another aspect of the film’s structure that impresses is the brilliant use of light, shadow, and color. The bright and vivid colors are breathtakingly beautiful, frequently creating the impression that one is actually viewing an unusual collection of restored oil paintings, not a feature film. In many sequences, natural light is also carefully used to better expose the richness of these brilliant colors.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg was lensed by cinematographer Jean Rabier, who also collaborated with Agnes Varda, director Demy’s widow (the New Wave classic Cleo from 5 to 7, Le Bonheur). The film’s production designer was the late Bernard Evein (Demy's The Young Girls of Rochefort, Jean Luc-Godard’s A Woman Is A Woman, Louis Malle’s Zazie dans le metro).

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal.

The foundation for the high-definition transfer is the same new 2K restoration of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg that was introduced on Blu-ray in France in November. The 2K scan was done on Digimage-Classics' SCANITY scanner and the film's color grading was supervised by Mathieu Demy. Additionally, the sound restoration was carried out using the film's 1963 mono mix, the 1992 Dolby SR optical negative, and the 1992 digital multitrack tapes. The entire digitization and restoration was produced by Cine-Tamaris, with the support of the Cannes Film Festival.

The improvements in image depth and clarity are quite dramatic. Close-ups and the nighttime footage, some of which is very problematic on various DVD releases, now look very impressive. Shadow definition, in particular, is substantially improved. The most serious improvements, however, are in the area of color reproduction. As noted in our review of the Cine-Tamaris Video/Arte Video release, large sections of the film now have an entirely different vibe because of the drastic improvements in color saturation. There are absolutely no traces of compromising degraining corrections. Problematic sharpening adjustments also have not been applied. However, I did some direct comparisons with the French release and there are a couple of sequences where light compression artifacts try to sneak in. A good example is the meeting in the jewelry shop. (See screencapture #4). Another good example is the footage from the train station. (See screencapture #11). My feeling is that very few people will spot them during normal playback because they very light, but they are definitely present. Finally, there are no serious stability issues. Also, large damage marks, scratches, debris, cuts, splices, and stains have been carefully removed. My score is 4.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and French LPCM 2.0. For the record, StudioCanal have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

I viewed the film with the LPCM 2.0 track (the French release has a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track), but you should experiment with both tracks because the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is also very strong. (The French release has a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 track, but I could not hear any notable differences between the two). Whichever track you choose, I am convinced that you will be enormously pleased with the depth and clarity of the sound as the improvements are indeed quite dramatic. Additionally, there are important balance improvements that maintain excellent separation between the music and the singing. For the record, there are no pops, cracks, audio dropouts, hiss, or distortions to report in this review.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1964) - the original theatrical trailer for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Unrestored. In French, with optional English subtitles. (3 min).

• Trailer (2013) - new trailer for the newly restored The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Presented with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. In French, with optional English subtitles. (2 min).

• Stills Gallery - a collection of original stills from the film and production photographs. With music. Courtesy of Cine-Tamaris and Agnes Varda. (2 min).

• Interview with Catherine Deneuve - this audio interview with the legendary French actress was recorded at BFI National Archive after the publication of her diaries. Mrs. Deneuve discusses her work with director Roman Polanski on Repulsion, her collaboration with the great Luis Bunuel on Belle de jour, her first encounter with Jacques Demy and the enormous impact he had on her personal and professional life, her preparation for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg as well as her work with her late sister Françoise Dorleac on Les demoiselles de Rochefort, etc. In English, not subtitled. (67 min).

• The Restoration of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - an in-depth look at the new 2K restoration of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Included here are short comments by Agnes Varda, Rosalie Varda-Demy, director Mathieu Demy, and Thierry Delannoy (from Digimage), as well as before-and-after comparisons. In French, with optional English subtitles. (7 min).

• Virginie Ledoyen on The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - in this short video interview, actress Virginie Ledoyen (In All Innocence, Farewell, My Queen) discusses The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and explains how the film has influenced her. In French, with optional English subtitles. (4 min).

• Geoff Andrew on The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - in this video interview, Geoff Andrew, Head of Film Programme at BFI Southbank and a regular contributor to Sight & Sound, discusses Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and explains how it differs from traditional Hollywood musicals. In English, not subtitled. (12 min).

• Once Upon a Time... The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - this wonderful documentary film by Marie Genin and Serge July focuses on the production history of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and its timeless appeal. The documentary contains clips from archival interviews with Jacques Demy, composer Michel Legrand, director Agnes Varda, costume designer Jacqueline Moreau, director Bernard Toublanc-Michel (Singapore, Singapore, Evil Pleasure), and Catherine Deneuve, amongst others. In English and French, with imposed English subtitles where necessary. (52 min).

• The World of Jacques Demy - a fantastic documentary film produced by Cine-Tamaris which focuses on the life and legacy of Jacques Demy. The documentary contains clips from archival interviews with Anouk Aimee (Lola), Marc Michel (Lola, Le Trou), director Agnes Varda, Françoise Fabian (3 places pour le 26), Catherine Deneuve, Dominique Sanda (A Room in Town, The Conformist), and Michel Piccoli (Les demoiselles de Rochefort, Belle de jour), amongst others. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (88 min).

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

StudioCanal's upcoming Blu-ray release of director Jacques Demy's legendary The Umbrellas of Cherbourg uses as a foundation the excellent recent 2K restoration of the film produced by Cine-Tamaris and supported by the Cannes Film Festival. Their Blu-ray release, however, is not identical to the one Cine-Tamaris Video/Arte Video produced for the French market. In addition to different supplemental features, there are also some minor discrepancies between the two transfers they use. Still, the film looks very beautiful in high-definition and the improvements in the audio department are quite dramatic. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.