Melancholy in 35mm: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Oh those beautiful and melancholy French people. They have to go and make a bittersweet love story where everyone sings all the time and yet not one song is hummable. Jacque Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a film opera with no great musical numbers to try and recreate in your living room when no one else is home. In other words, there's no I Feel Pretty or How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria or All That Jazz. We aren't even certain if you can call Catherine Deneuve's voice good. But there it is. Heartbreaking men and women and their umbrellas singing about lust, love, loss and children named François or Françoise. Happiness is fleeting. Beauty is all around us, intermingled with the ugliness of war and classism and broken dreams. Our significant other thinks it is the most romantic movie ever made (has he not seen Love Story?). Whatever. It's still something to see. Something all its own.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg plays at The Paramount Theater Tuesday, August 23, and Wednesday, August 24th at 7:30 pm.