The Young Girls of Rochefort

Director Jacques Demy basically had a monopoly on the fledgling genre of the European musical. First, he made the memorable, Umbrellas of Cherbourg which was interesting for three reasons: (1) There was no spoken dialogue, every word in the film was sung, (2) Michel Legrand provided an excellent and memorable score for the film, and finally (3) it is the film that introduced Catherine Deneuve to the silver screen, and for that, I will be eternally grateful. However, this with this film he surpasses his earlier success. In fact, I might go so far as to say that this ranks within my five favorite musicals of all time. This time around there is dialogue, Michel Legrand returns to provide another excellent score, and we get a double whammy, not only does Catherine Deneuve return, she is joined by her real-life sister Francoise Dorleac, who was equally as beautiful. Together they play the young girls of the title. On a side note, unfortunately, Francoise Dorleac died in a car crash a couple of years after this film, but was in the process of making a number of memorable impressions with her performances in such films as the underrated Roman Polanski classic, Cul-de-Sac. Demy creates one of those great, fantasy musical worlds with bright, vivid colors, in which people spontaneously burst into song and dance, and two beautiful, young, musically talented sisters dream of nothing more than finding the man of their dreams. Also in the film, we meet the girls younger brother, their mother who owns a diner, a couple of guys looking for a new carnival act, a kindly music store owner, a love-struck sailor whose painting of the girl of his dreams looks suprisingly like Catherine Deneuve but of course they don't know each other yet, and an American composer in town for a few days. Demy masterfully weaves these characters together in such a way that you know that, by the end, they are all destined to meet each other. One of the most pleasant surprises in the film is the introduction of the American composer who is played by none other than Gene Kelly (with his voice being criminally redubbed for most of the film). This is the kind of film that is immensely entertaining and is guarunteed to leave you with a smile on your face and a song in your heart.