Double Feature: La La Land & The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

The image shows two people standing on a stage set that resembles a romantic, nighttime cityscape. The person on the left is wearing a white dress, and the person on the right is wearing a black suit. They are holding hands and facing each other. The background features a painted mural of a river with reflections of buildings and trees, illuminated by streetlights. The ground is covered with scattered red and orange leaves, and there are flowers on the right side of the image. The scene is visually striking

A man and woman stand in the snow facing each other with downcast eyes.

Join us on Saturday, March 22, for a special double feature event of Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and La La Land (2016)!

La La Land, an enchanting, modern musical directed by Damien Chazelle, is a love letter to both the city of Los Angeles and the history of Hollywood musicals. Set in contemporary Los Angeles, aspiring actress Mia (Emma Stone) serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and while jazz musician Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars. The two are drawn together by their passion for pursuing their creative dreams. However, as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to tear them apart.

Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) served as a core inspiration for the color design, quotidian choreography, and emotional tone of La La Land — along with Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen's Singin' in the Rain, Vincente Minnelli's An American in Paris, and Broadway Melody of 1940, starring Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell.

Among most enchanting films in French cinema history, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a somber but striking French New Wave musical. A young Catherine Deneuve plays an umbrella-shop owner’s delicate daughter, glowing with first love for a handsome garage mechanic, played by Nino Castelnuovo. When the boy is shipped off to fight in the Algerian War, she is left alone to deal with the consequences of their last night together and the pressures of her meddling mother.

Exquisitely designed in a kaleidoscope of colors, and told entirely through the lilting songs of the great composer Michel Legrand, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is one of the most revered and unorthodox movie musicals of all time. Demy's dazzling tale of heartbreak has recently been restored in 4K by Ciné-Tamaris by Éclair Classics and L.E. Diapason labs, Paris, with support from the CNC, CHANEL, & SACEM.

We're delighted for the chance to share these two heart-wrenching musicals with you in one evening!

This special event will feature:

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964, dir. Jacques Demy) at 5:30pm
La La Land (2016, dir. Damien Chazelle) at 8pm

This event also serves as the kick-off for our annual French Film Festival. Festive refreshments will be served at a small reception between the two films!

Special ticket pricing applies for the double feature event. One ticket gives access to both films and the reception.

Our French Film Festival is supported by the Albertine Cinematheque, a program of Albertine Foundation & Villa Albertine, with support from the CNC / Centre National du Cinema, and SACEM / Fonds Culturel Franco-Américain, and cosponsored by the Department of Romance Studies.

Please note that The Umbrellas of Cherbourg will also screen at Cornell Cinema on Friday, March 28 at 6pm.