Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

antoniocasaca123 This is a very beautiful and realistic film, whose final part messes immensely with us. During the movie we are not expecting such an ending. If it were a North American movie, with the same story, the ending would be different, the unfolding of the film itself would be different and everything would end up in a happy end, even more for a musical. It's not that the movie, as it ends, "ends badly." It ends ... how it has to end.

Thomas Drufke Considering La La Land is one of my all-time favorite films, surely I have to see the film that inspired it, right? The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a beautiful and melodramatic take on a French romance in musical form. Just as it was the case with La La Land, I have a feeling this film will get better on repeated viewings. With every word sung, and in a different language, sometimes it's difficult to follow what is being said and what the emotional intentions are of each word. Watching romances in another language is always a fascinating experiment. On one hand, you could say that the language doesn't ultimately matter because what is meant is often shown through facial expressions. But at the same time, not being familiar with the native language can make it difficult to understand the exact tone of each spoken word. After all, how do we really know how well the actors can act if you aren't familiar to their language?With all that said, there's no escaping the beauty to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Jacques Demy crafted this story in such a unique way, through imagery and framing devices. Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo resemble last year's Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone by being an honest and charismatic couple that you can root for. Just the pure emotion that both of them pour into their characters is admiring. Only, I wish we did get to see a little more of them doing things together, instead of just gush over each other through song after song.Getting lost in the music, colorful imagery, and dreamy sequences are probably why this film became so popular, and further inspired La La Land. Although nothing really compares to the latter, 'Umbrellas' works on other levels because it's a contained, quiet, and sincere love story told through beautifully arranged musical numbers. This is one for the ages.8.6/10

Ronnie Spencer when I was in high school, taking french, the teacher would occasionally push a tape into a slot and show a "movie." the idea was for us kids to hear the language. well, this was one of the movies. at the time, my feelings concerning "umbrellas" were... truthfully, I didn't know what to think. as a seventeen year old I don't think I would have recommended it. channel surfing last night I came across it again on TCM. what a difference 9000 days makes. this is a very unique film. it's not a musical, even with the sung dialog, jazzy score and saturated colors. it's stylish camera work/art direction doesn't contradict the neorealism aspect either. It enhances it.even with the "star crossed lovers" aspect, the film isn't sentimental or corny. and the socio-economic angle is also treated tastefully.This is an ART film in the true sense of the term. and Anne Vernon. Je t'aime.

manendra-lodhi Art cannot be for someone who fears. The director's approach fits in this quote. When I learned (before seeing the film) that it was a musical, I expected a rip off of the sound of Music. But when I started watching, everything started to look weird. All the dialogs in the film are in a musical way. You start to feel funny and irritated at the same time. The story is a very general, so do not expect much from it. It is just one normal love story that has a neutral ending with a good message. But what makes the film a must watch is its colorful cinematography. If for the first few minutes you are feeling irritated because of the musical dialogs then just wait some more and you will find yourself completely immersed in the film. After a time the dialogs, with music and everything look so normal that even such a predictable story can make you feel happy. It needed a lot of faith to make a film like this. The director has given a beautiful film which is definitely going to make you feel lighter. The most charming thing of the film is that none of the characters is shown as evil. It is the circumstances that are acting here as the obstacles. The film made me remember the films of Ghibli studios by Hayao Miyazaki. The film won the Palme d or in its time. But this is not the reason why you should be watching this, but that it is very much watchable in its own weird way.MESSAGE: "Life"VERDICT: "A recommended watch."