The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Director: Jaques Demy, Jaques Demy, Jaques Demy

1964 / 92min / DCP

Shared with a new generation of filmlovers in the US when Zeitgeist released a restored version of the film theatrically in NYC in 1996, Demy’s poignant, particolored, all-singing musical tracks the budding romance between ridiculously good-looking young couple Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo. The discovery of true love is depicted in a spree of bright, playful springtime hues and trilling, thrilling song, only for the star-crossed amour to conclude with a white-out and the most wrenching Christmas scene in all of cinema: a steady fall of stage snow, a dash of tinsel, a gas station office pregnant with regret, a swell of music, and a heavenward lift of the camera. It might just break your heart.