The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg (EOTWS)

End Of The Week #6.1 extract: The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg (1964)

A classical bittersweet romance about time, patience, young love, loss and compromise, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a fine picture. But, whilst I appreciate the film, I didn't enjoy the story much as there is far too much of a focus on the character of Geneviève as played by Catherine Deneuve - who, to put it lightly, isn't a very compelling figure. In fact, with her as a central figure, this narrative spirals into depressive (somewhat realistic) dead-ends that, despite giving much weight and poignancy to the overall narrative message, simply aren't very compelling. 

And on the note of this being a musical, all I have to say is that this the kind that has singing throughout - as in, every word of dialogue is sung - which will of course deter many people. Whilst I didn't particularly enjoy this as it didn't give the narrative a particularly musical quality, instead a pseudo-rhythmic tone, it grows on you and eventually distinguishes itself as a style unto itself. 

In the end, whilst this is a little bit of a hard story to swallow with a few formal downfalls, it certainly has a lot my respect.