Jacques Demy Movies
Though a contemporary of such Nouvelle Vague filmmakers as Chabrol, Godard and Truffaut, Jacques Demy eschewed their tendency towards heavy, realistic dramas centered the ills of the contemporary world. His best loved films were romantic, lyrical and fairytale like, but always imbued with dark undercurrents of psychological realism. Like other New Wave directors, Demy was passionate about cinema, particularly Hollywood musicals, which he paid specific tribute to in Les Desmoiselles de Rochefort. In the early '50s, Demy assisted animator Paul Grimault and documentarist Georges Rouquier. He began directing shorts in the mid '50s with Le Sabotier Du Val De Loire and Le Bel Indifférent. Demy made his feature debut in 1961 with the popular romance Lola. Dedicated to Max Ophuls and his film Lola Montes, Demy's first film is still considered by many to be his finest. Demy topped that success with the international hit Les Parapluies De Cherbourg (aka The Umbrellas of Cherbourg), a low-key and beautifully stylized romantic musical by Michel Legrand (who had scored Demy's shorter works) in which all of the players sang their lines against a paradise of quaint buildings painted in pastels. The film was a great success and remains one of Demy's best known films. In hopes of recapturing that success, he and Legrand again teamed up for Les Desmoiselles De Rochefort (aka The Young Girls of Rochefort) with Gene Kelly. His notable later films include the handsome fairy tales Peau D'Ane (aka Donkey Skin) and The Pied Piper of Hamelin (aka The Pied Piper); the comedy L'Évenement Le Plus Important Depuis Que L'Homme A Marché Sur La Lune (aka A Slightly Pregnant Man) with Marcello Mastroianni; Parking, his Doors-inspired remake of Cocteau's Orphée; La Table Tournante, a live-action-and-animation mix reteaming Demy and Paul Grimault; and Demy's last film, the Yves Montand musical Trois Places Pour Le 26. Following Demy's death in late 1990 of a cerebral hemorrhage, his widow Agnes Varda, a filmmaker in her own right, began making documentary tributes to her beloved and influential husband the most famous of which is the docudrama- Jacquot de Nantes. ~ All Movie Guide- 1991
- PG
A year after the untimely death of her husband and fellow filmmaker Jacques Demy, director Agnès Varda produced this film based on Demy's memoirs. Focusing on Demy's childhood, Jacquot de Nantes explores the Les Parapluies de Cherbourg director's burgeoning fascination with film as a boy and introduces viewers to his mother and father, a hairdresser and garage owner, respectively. At different stages of his life, Jacquot is portrayed by young actors Philippe Maron, Edouard Joubeaud, and Laurent Monnier. Jacquot de Nantes was also released as simply Jacquot. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philippe Maron, Edouard Joubeaud, (more)
- 1988
Paul Grimault and Jacques Demy collaborated to create this unconventional retrospective of Grimault's career. One of the most renowned French animators, Grimault comes to his studio one day and meets an animated clown who proceeds to question the man about his career. This leads to a series of clips, as well as a few personal revelations about the artist. Eight complete short film, dating from 1941 to 1988, appear in their entirety during the course of the film. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Grimault, Anouk Aimée, (more)
- 1988
Yves Montand plays himself in this musical romantic comedy by Jacques Demy. Demy and Michel Legrand wrote the songs with Montand in mind as a tribute to the famous French singer and actor in his most celebrated roles. Choreography is provided by Michael Peters for the many background dancers who hoof it around Montand, with set designs by Bernard Evein. Mathilde May plays Montand's love interest, a young singer who becomes a star when she takes the place of the diva who backs out weeks before opening night. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yves Montand, Mathilda May, (more)
- 1985
Parking is director Jacques Demy's homage to Jean Cocteau's 1948 masterwork Orpheus. As in the Cocteau film, Demy relates the Orpheus and Euridyce legend in a contemporary setting. Now a rock 'n' roll sensation (instead of the poet of the Cocteau film) Orpheus falls in love with Eurydice, who in this version is a sculptress rather than a princess. The rest of the film adheres to the familiar story. Euridyce, who is death personified, beckons Orpheus into Hell, ostensibly to revive his dead lover. A shade brighter and more buoyant than its source material, Parking is the usual Jacques Demy brew of beautiful imagery and hokey dialogue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Francis Huster, Laurent Malet, (more)
- 1982
- R
In the style of an operetta, like director Jacques Demy's more famous film the Umbrellas of Cherbourg, this melodramatic story is set in Nantes in 1955 and centers around the tragedies of three or four intertwined lives. First, there is the young steel worker (Richard Berry) who is out on strike and has rented a room from an upper-class widow (Danielle Darrieux), a woman in sympathy with the strikers. The blue-collar worker has a girlfriend he finds less and less interesting just as she is more and more pregnant, and their relationship seems fated to end, one way or another. Then there is Edith (Dominique Sanda), the daughter of the widow, married to a wealthy, impotent, skinflint of a merchant caught up in his own neuroses, and, whether for that reason or several others, Edith is a part-time hooker. One evening she shows up in the worker's rented room, wearing a fur coat and nothing else -- and the two share a night of passion. Now mother, daughter, the worker, and the daughter's husband have formed a very unstable chain of relationships, due to snap because at least one link is exceedingly weak. Enhanced by excellent choreography, this film still did poorly at the box office when it was first released. In order to save it and encourage audiences to see it for its own merits, 76 French critics took out an ad in Le Monde to promote the film, and some critics said that if this movie failed, so would all of French cinema. Perhaps it is not surprising then that Chambre En Ville won the French Critics' Prix Méliès in 1982. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dominique Sanda, Richard Berry, (more)
- 1979
An truly international production if there ever was one, this costume epic was based on a Japanese comic book, directed by a noted French filmmaker, and features a primarily British cast. Oscar (Catriona MacColl) is a young woman whose father, a career military man, wanted a boy. Rather than surrender to his disappointment after she was born, Father took to dressing Oscar in boy's clothes and raising her in a masculine fashion. While privately Oscar acknowledges her feminine side, she still dresses as a man and has gained an honored position as a guard to Marie Antoinette (Christina Bohm). In her younger days, Oscar was deeply infatuated with Andre (Barry Stokes), the son of the family's housekeeper, and when the French Revolution begins to catch fire, Oscar and Andre's paths cross for the first time in years. However, with the assault on the Bastille, Oscar and Andre find themselves fighting on opposite sides of the political fence. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catriona MacColl, Barry Stokes, (more)
Director Jacques Demy's propensity for making a workable comedy out of the least likely material is once more put to the test in A Slightly Pregnant Man. Marcello Mastrioanni plays the title character, and, yes, he's in "the family way." The film plays the role-reversal gag to the hilt -- sometimes to excess. But Mastrioanni always manages to make his character's plight believable, which is more than can be said for Billy Crystal in Rabbit Test or Arnold Schwarzenegger in Junior. A word of caution: though the title may seem frothy and frivolous, A Slightly Pregnant Man may prove unsuitable fare for children. The film's original French title--which must have sorely tested the patience of theatre managers with small marquees--was L'Evenement le plus important depuis que l'homme a march sur la lune. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Marcello Mastroianni, (more)
The Pied Piper eschews the romanticism of Robert Browning's poem and returns to the grim Grimm Brothers source. Pop singer Donovan plays the 14th century piper hired by duplicitous burgomaster Donald Pleasance to rid the town of Hamelin of its rats. The piper does what he's asked, but is denied the payment promised him; in revenge, he leads all of Hamelin's children out of town, never to be seen again. Though the story is a familiar one, this 1972 Pied Piper is not a kiddie movie. Director Jacques Demy's depiction of the 14th century as a muddy, backward, superstitious, disease-ridden, vermin-infested era transforms this fable into a squalid tale of revenge (incidentally, all those repulsive rodents are real; note John Holmes' screen credit as "rat trainer"). Donovan is quite good in the lead, and is matched by a remarkably restrained Jack Wild as the crippled boy. If you want the sugary sweet Pied Piper that your mother used to recite at bedtime, stay away from this film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Wild, Donald Pleasence, (more)
Originally titled Peau D'Ane, Jacques Demy's Dos Cruces en Danger Pass is better known by its English-language title Donkey Skin. Based on a fairy tale by Charles Perrault (of Cinderella fame), the bizarre story concerns the king (Jean Marais) of a strange, enchanted land. Catherine Deneuve plays the dual role of the king's wife and daughter. When the wife dies, she makes the king promise that he'll never marry anyone less beautiful than she; thus, he is compelled to wed his own daughter! The fairy godmother (Delphine Seyrig) tries to save the girl from this incestuous fate by telling her to make impossible demands for her wedding gifts. One such demand is for the skin of a magic donkey which deposits valuable jewels in its compost heaps. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Jean Marais, (more)
George (Gary Lockwood) is a disillusioned 26-year-old who has just quit his stifling job. He lives in Los Angeles with an aspiring young actress named Gloria (Alexandra Hay), who is none too pleased with his recent unemployment. Hanging over his head is the constant threat of repossession of his car and the virtual certainty that he will be drafted into the army. He sees a beautiful woman in a big car and follows her to her home in the Hollywood hills. A rock-star friend loans him money for a car and he follows the mystery woman to a photography shop. Lola (Anouk Aimée) is an older French model who poses for photographs to pay the bills. After he takes pictures of her, he begins to fall in love with the woman. Gloria discovers the pictures and throws George out of the house. He returns to the model and the two have conversation over drinks before ending up in bed together. Lola wishes to return home to be with her young son and is reluctant to get involved in a relationship. George's relationship with Gloria ends when she leaves him over her failure to understand his motivations. He resigns himself to the fact he will be drafted and probably end up dead in a Vietnam rice paddy in this story of a young man in search of the greater meaning of life. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anouk Aimée, Gary Lockwood, (more)
Jacques Demy directed this frothy tribute to the Hollywood musicals of the 1940s, a follow-up to his earlier success The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). Twin sisters Delphine and Solange (played by real-life sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorleac) live in the small coastal town of Rochefort, where they run a school teaching dancing and music. Both feel frustrated in Rochefort, and they dream of travelling to Paris, where they believe romance and opportunity awaits them. Meanwhile, their single mother, Yvonne (Danielle Darrieux), who runs a cafe in town, pines for her lost love, Simon (Michel Piccoli). One day, one of Yvonne's regular customers, a sailor with an artistic bent named Maxence (Jacques Perrin), shows her a painting of the imaginary girl of his dreams, and she looks just like Delphine, whom he's never met. Meanwhile, Simon has returned to Rochefort, bringing with him a close friend, American pianist Andy Miller (Gene Kelly); Simon has made friends with Solange and introduces her to Andy, who immediately falls in love with her. Sadly, Les Demoiselles de Rochefort was Françoise Dorleac's last film; she died in an auto accident shortly after completing the picture. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, George Chakiris, (more)
Jacques Demy's 1964 masterpiece is a pop-art opera, or, to borrow the director's own description, a film in song. This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher (Nino Castelnuovo), a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery (a luminous Catherine Deneuve), an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant (Marc Michel, reprising his role from Demy's masterful debut, Lola). A completely sung movie, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is closest in form to a cinematic opera. Composer Michel Legrand composed the score, modeling it around the patterns of everyday conversation. Umbrellas was re-released in 1997. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, (more)
Bay of the Angels (La Baie des anges) stars Jeanne Moreau as a middle-aged Parisian gambling addict who leaves her husband and children and heads for the roulette tables of Nice. There she meets young and handsome Claude Mann--a meeting which coincides with Moreau's first winning streak. She latches onto Mann in the belief that he's a good luck charm, and remains with him even when she starts losing heavily. Mann, emotionally drained, walks out of the relationship. The film ends with Mann entreating Moreau to return with him to the bourgeois existence that she'd escaped in the first scene. Bay of the Angels was directed by Jacques Demy, just before he achieved international fame with his musical films Young Girls of Rochefort and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeanne Moreau, Claude Mann, (more)
- 1962
The seven major sins receive treatment from some of France's greatest directors in this lively portmanteau. "Anger" by Dhomme, chronicles a single horrific day when every bowl of soup in France is found to contain a fly. This causes a devastating nationwide revolt. "Envy" by Molinaro tells the story of a chambermaid whose dream of sleeping with a millionaire comes true. Unfortunately, she goes back to work and finds herself still consumed with jealousy. De Broca's "Gluttony" provides one of the film's most enjoyable episodes as it follows the exploits of a voracious family heading off for a funeral. "Lust" by Demy is set at a Parisian sidewalk cafe and eavesdrops upon the lusty conversation between two young men, one of whom has x-ray eyes that enable him to see through women's clothing. "Laziness" by Godard features real life matinee idol Constantine as a movie star who finds himself too sluggish to respond to the starlet trying so hard to seduce him. "Pride" by Roger Vadim tells the satirical tale of a philandering wife who changes her mind and stays with her husband after learning that her happy home is being threatened by another woman. Finally in Chabrol's "Greed," young men who have pooled their meager resources to buy a prostitute, fight for the chance to be with her. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacques Charrier, Marie-José Nat, (more)
Jacques Demy's auspicious debut -- "a musical without music" set in the port city of Nantes -- stars Anouk Aimée as the title character, a cabaret singer awaiting the return of Michel (Jacques Hardin), her long-absent lover and the father of her child. Michel went to America seven years ago and promised to return when he became rich. In Michel's absence, Lola is being courted by her childhood friend Roland (Marc Michel) and American sailor Frankie (Allan Scott). At some point, it seems that Lola will settle down with one of them, but her heart still belongs to Michel. The film is dedicated to Max Ophüls and the film title obviously alludes to Ophüls' Lola Montes as well as to the heroine of Josef Von Sternberg's The Blue Angel. Marc Michel makes a reference to his unrequited love towards Lola when he reappears in Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anouk Aimée, Marc Michel, (more)
- 1960
Paris Nous Appartient begins at the end-with a mysterious suicide. Curious as to why a young Spaniard would take his own life, Betty Schneider visits many of the places frequented by the dead youth. She learns from theatre-director Giani Esposito that the suicide victim was part of a sinister international conspiracy. She further learns from American-expatriate Daniel Crohem that Esposito has also been targeted for persecution by the conspirators. By the time Schneider realizes that the conspiracy was merely a figment of the neurotic Crohem's imagination, the terrified Esposito has killed himself. The intrigues of the plot take second place to the film's centerpiece: an eternally-in-progress stage production of Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Now regarded as one of the pioneering efforts in the French "New Wave" movement, Paris Belongs to Us was also the first feature-length effort of director (and former critic and film theorist) Jacques Rivette. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Betty Schneider, Gianni Esposito, (more)
For his feature-film debut, critic-turned-director François Truffaut drew inspiration from his own troubled childhood. The 400 Blows stars Jean-Pierre Léaud as Antoine Doinel, Truffaut's preteen alter ego. Misunderstood at home by his parents and tormented in school by his insensitive teacher (Guy Decomble), Antoine frequently runs away from both places. The boy finally quits school after being accused of plagiarism by his teacher. He steals a typewriter from his father (Albert Remy) to finance his plans to leave home. The father angrily turns Antoine over to the police, who lock the boy up with hardened criminals. A psychiatrist at a delinquency center probes Antoine's unhappiness, which he reveals in a fragmented series of monologues. Originally intended as a 20-minute short, The 400 Blows was expanded into a feature when Truffaut decided to elaborate on his self-analysis. For the benefit of Truffaut's fellow film buffs, The 400 Blows is full of brief references to favorite directors, notably Truffaut's then-idol Jean Vigo. The film won the 1959 Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival, even though Truffaut had been declared persona non grata the year before for his inflammatory comments about the festival's commercialism. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Léaud, Robert Beauvais, (more)
