Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (2015)

by | Jul 3, 2015 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (2015)

Composer & conductor: Michel Legrand
Orchestre National d’Ile-de-France
Live at Theatre du Chatelet, Paris
Lyrics: Jacques Demy (and director of orig. film)
Cast: Marie Oppert, Natalie Dessay, Vincent Niclo
Studio: Telmondis/ Erato 0825646117642 [7/10/15] (Distr. by Naxos)
Video: 16:9 color
Audio: French DD 5.2, PCM stereo 2.0
Subtitles: English, French
Length: 100 min.
Rating: ****

This was the world premiere of a symphonic concert version of the Jacques Demy film, presented live at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris (and recorded for French TV), with it’s composer Michel Legrand conducting the orchestra. This is an enjoyable version of the 1964 musical and it’s great to have Michel Legrand conducting it.

The vocalists are all excellent. Some of the simple set pieces use line sketches on cardboard or wood that are moved around by stagehands in sailor dress. They include the children of the couple, a Christmas tree, and the counter of the umbrella store. It’s sort of a semi-staged version.  Michel Legrand reveals in an interview in the accompanying booklet that he and Jacques Demy has planned an eventual transposition of their film to the stage. One thing Legrand wanted to do was to have a full symphony orchestra and do it like a classical work with singers.

Legrand and Demy had a difficult time with the speaking between the songs in the original film, and Legrand suggested they just have them sing everything, which they did.  No one had done a feature musical film like that before. In the film the girl Genevieve was played by a young Catherine deneuve, but her voice was that of Danielle Licari.  Marie Oppert does both in this concert performance; she looks to me something like a French Laura Linney.

The concluding section is a real tear-jerker, as it was in the film. Though of course there’s no Citroen DS-21 for Genevieve – not even a suggestion of a gas station. I’d forgotten that this was originally Demy’s film, but his having the Roland Cassard character sing of his unfortunate love affair with “Lola” made that clear.  It was a theme that Demy used in several of his films. This is a wonderful version to experience – 50 years after the original film.

—John Sunier

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