Singin’ in the rain, with a French twist

What makes the bittersweet classic “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” so fresh and timeless after 40 years swiftly becomes crystal clear: Writer-director Jacques Demy and composer Michel Legrand understood the difference between the romantic and the sentimental.

Because Demy never lost sight of the real and the practical he could get away with Legrand’s cascading, sometimes jazzy, sometimes brooding score with its haunting and familiar “I will wait for you” refrain, a heady tale of rapturous first love between a beautiful, blond 16-year-old (Catherine Deneuve) and a handsome, dark-haired 20-year-old auto mechanic (Nino Castelnuovo), a bold use of color and -- famously -- a cast that sings all the dialogue. For all its gossamer cotton-candy gorgeousness, it has a clear-eyed, down-to-earth -- and very French -- grasp of the workings of the human heart.

The best known of the films of Demy (1931-89), “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” is being re-released to mark its 40th anniversary with a new 35-millimeter print that shows off the full impact of its glorious color. Demy’s widow, director Agnes Varda, supervised the film’s 1992 restoration, which included the remixing of Legrand’s legendary score in stereo. (Varda has recently completed the restoration of Demy’s exquisite 1971 fairy tale “Donkey Skin,” which also starred Deneuve.)

The 1964 film takes its title from a shop in the port city of Cherbourg, the rainiest city in France. Its proprietor, Mme. Emery (Anne Vernon), is a chic widow, the mother of Deneuve’s Genevieve. They live above their charming store in an elegant, spacious flat. Everything Mme. Emery says and does suggests that widowhood not only has meant a loss of financial security but also social status -- her daughter reminds her at a crucial point that she has no friends and does not speak to neighbors.

As a loving mother she wants a better life for her daughter, who has met and swiftly fallen in love with Castelnuovo’s Guy Foucher. Appearing on the scene at the same time is debonair Roland Cassard (Marc Michel), who in “Lola,” Demy’s first film, fell in love with a bewitching dancer (Anouk Aimee in the title role) in nearby Nantes. Cassard has just has returned to France after a long sojourn in America, where he healed his broken heart, and is now a successful diamond merchant.

Genevieve and Guy have barely hit it off when he receives his draft notice, which means he will be soon fighting the Algerian War -- how’s that for topicality -- and will be gone for two years. The film’s most poignant moment occurs when Genevieve admits to her mother that even though she and Guy have told each other they will wait for each other, her best memory of him is a photo he has sent to her in his uniform.

“Umbrellas” is skillfully structured, spanning nearly two years between 1957 and 1959, with an epilogue set in 1963. This allows a persuasive growth of character, the change of seasons, suggesting the eternal cycle of life, which sets off a whimsically propitious working of fate.

The film is a classic instance of playing genuine emotion against artifice, and art director Bernard Evein’s bold use of shades of pink, red, orange, chartreuse and turquoise actually heightens the reality of the emotions of Demy’s people instead of overwhelming them.

The cast functions as an impeccable ensemble from which Deneuve emerged as an enduring international star and an icon of the French cinema. “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” has stood the test of time as beautifully as Deneuve and seems likely to enchant future generations as fully as it has audiences over the past four decades.

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‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’

MPAA rating: Unrated

Times guidelines: Mature themes, suitable for sophisticated older children.

Catherine Deneuve...Genvieve Emery

Nino Castelnuovo...Guy Foucher

Anne Vernon...Mme. Emery

Marc Michel...Roland Cassard

A Zeitgeist Films release of a Cine-Tamaris presentation. Director Jacques Demy. Producer Mag Bodard. Screenplay and lyrics by Michel Legrand. Music composed and conducted by Legrand. Cinematographer Jean Rabier. Editor Anne-Marie Cotret. Costumes Jacqueline Moreau. Production designer Bernard Evein. In French with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 31 minutes.

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