Review of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

I have always associated my favorite musicals with Broadway, apart from this one, which is up there with my top three favorites. Filed as a love story, it also makes my top three. And Catherine Deneuve? She's definitely in my top three most beautiful actresses of all time. Then there's Michel Legrand, my second favorite composer (after Chopin, and if you must know, the third ones would be the Lennon/McCartney collaboration). How does one get so willingly hooked to a movie? Just sample the first five minutes of it, you don't even wait for the first lines of song to realize you're in for a gem of a film. Before you hear any of it, the sets are bound to get you. For the colors, those vibrant, palpable colors are a veritable visual feast. And have I mentioned the divine Catherine Deneuve? If there's anything most likely to distract your attention from the sets, it would be her presence. And last, but not least, for long after you may have forgotten the plot, you will never forget this: that melodious, hummable music, a song most of us associate with having heard from childhood, that beautifully threads the scenes of the story together--and you have the perfect musical. The most poignant love story (reminiscent of Splendor in the Grass, another coming-of-age film with a most genetically- blessed lead actors), with an ending that breaks the heart, but one which I completely approve of!