The Umbrellas of Cherbourg 4K Ultra HD Review

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

A Film Woven Entirely from Music

Jacques Demy, the luminous voice of the French New Wave, declared his 1964 masterpiece Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) a “film in music.” This description captures its essence perfectly. Transcending the traditional musical format, the film unfolds as a continuous, sung-through operetta. Every line of dialogue is set to Michel Legrand’s vibrant, jazz-inflected score, transforming ordinary conversation into soaring melody. This audacious technique elevates a seemingly simple story of young love into a profoundly moving exploration of hope, heartbreak, and the harsh realities dictated by social class. While its dazzling pop-art aesthetic might initially evoke Hollywood’s glossy musical fantasies, Demy’s vision remains grounded in the lives of ordinary people, eschewing elaborate choreography for raw emotional honesty.

A Simple Story of Profound Choices

The narrative centers on the tender but doomed romance between Guy (Nino Castelnuovo), a 20-year-old auto mechanic, and Geneviève (Catherine Deneuve), the 17-year-old daughter working in her widowed mother’s chic yet financially precarious umbrella shop. Dreaming of a shared future, their youthful passion faces a brutal interruption when Guy is conscripted for two years of military service in Algeria. In a poignant farewell, they share an intimate night, resulting in Geneviève’s pregnancy. Faced with uncertainty and societal pressure, Geneviève’s pragmatic mother (Anne Vernon) orchestrates an introduction to Roland Cassard (Marc Michel), a wealthy, kind-hearted diamond merchant. Roland, deeply smitten, offers marriage and security, accepting Geneviève and her unborn child. Geneviève stands at a crossroads: cling to fading hope for Guy’s return or embrace Roland’s offer of respectability and comfort.

A Symphony of Color and Design

Demy and production designer Bernard Evein drench the film in an intoxicating palette of saturated primary colors, soft pastels, and vibrant floral patterns. Costumes meticulously coordinate with wallpapers and shop fronts, creating a visually harmonious yet emotionally charged world. Every frame feels like a living painting, where the candy-colored surroundings poignantly contrast with the characters’ deepening emotional turmoil. This deliberate, almost hyperreal aesthetic transforms the port town of Cherbourg into a stylized yet deeply affecting stage for human drama.

Legrand’s Score: The Breath of Life

Michel Legrand’s groundbreaking composition is the film’s very lifeblood. Rejecting the typical structure of distinct songs and spoken dialogue found in conventional musicals, Legrand crafted a continuous, through-composed score. The music mimics the natural rhythms and cadences of everyday speech, flowing seamlessly from recitative to aria. There are no show-stopping dance numbers or comedic interludes; instead, the music relentlessly drives the narrative forward, intimately binding the audience to the characters’ joys and sorrows. Iconic themes like “I Will Wait For You” become inseparable from the emotional core of the story.

Enduring Beauty and New Wave Innovation

The film’s conclusion leaves a lingering ache, a testament to its romantic power and emotional truth. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg masterfully blends operatic grandeur with intimate realism, merging traditional melodrama with the innovative spirit of the nouvelle vague. Its exploration of love constrained by circumstance feels timeless. Demy created something truly unique: a work of intoxicating visual beauty, unparalleled musical invention, and heartbreaking poignancy that could only have emerged from the creative ferment of its era.

Critical Acclaim and Legacy

The film’s brilliance was immediately recognized. It triumphed at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival, winning the prestigious Palme d’Or and launching Catherine Deneuve to international stardom with the Best Actress prize. It further received five Academy Award nominations, including recognition for its original screenplay and Michel Legrand’s unforgettable score. Its influence on both musical cinema and visual storytelling remains profound.

The Video

This new 4K restoration of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is definitely a step up over the 2017 2K restoration on Blu-ray from Criterion. It is listed as being undertaken by Ciné-Tamaris in 2024 with the support of the CNC, Chanel, and SACEM. It was scanned in 4K from the 35mm original camera negative. The film is presented in a 1.85:1 HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) SDR encodement.

If watching the 4K disc or the included Blu-ray, which is also from the new restoration, you will get a more colorful presentation than the 2017 release. The colors just pop more, even without HDR/Dolby Vision on the 4K disc, and probably could have even more with a Dolby Vision grading. The grain looks far more refined now, not that it looked bad on the older release, but comparing them side-by-side, right from the opening scenes with the umbrellas and the scenes in the garage, the image looks grittier on the old 2017 Blu-ray, and here on the 4K disc, it looks cleaner, but still shows a lot of natural grain and crisp detail. On the included Blu-ray, the image is similar, with a little less refinement in the grain.

The Audio

The 2017 Blu-ray had a sound restoration carried out using the original 1963 mono mix, the 1992 Dolby SR optical negative, and the 1992 restoration’s digital multitrack tapes. This 5.0 surround mix on this new 4K restoration A 5.1 was created from the 1963 3-track mix on half-inch magnetic tapes found in the archives at Universal Music Publishing. It is a revelation over the previous 5.1 mix, which was bit muffled and narrow in its separation. This 5.0 DTS-HD Master Audio mix has a wide stereo image with lush ambience in the surrounds, natural dynamics and lots of clarity. It is a big step up in musicality.

The Supplements

This Criterion Collection release is packed with high quality features from the past several years, and some archival interviews from over the decades. The supplements are, however, he same as were included with the 2017 Criterion Blu-ray release. The only thing new is the cover art, which itself is a welcome change from Criterion as they usually just reissue the 4K releases with the same artwork as the previous Blu-ray release artwork

• Once Upon a Time… “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:54:24) – This 2008 documentary about The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, directed by Marie Genin and Serge July, features interviews with director Jacques Demy, actors Catherine Deneuve and March Michel, composer Michel Legrand, and filmmaker Agnès Varda.
• Rodney Hill (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:22:43) – In this interview, conducted by the Criterion Collection in 2014, film scholar Rodney Hill talks about The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and how it embodies characteristics of both the French New Wave and the “tradition of quality” style of French filmmaking.
• Cinépanorama (1.33:1; 1080p/24; 00:11:15) – Director Jacques Demy and composer Michel Legrand are interviewd about The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in this 1964 episode of the French television program Cinépanorama.
• Michel Legrand at the National Film Theatre (00:26:46) – In this audio excerpt from 1991, Michel Legrand talks to an audience at the National Film Theatre in London about composing music for the films of Jacque Demy.
• Catherine Deneuve at the National Film Theatre (00:11:03) – In this audio excerpt from 1983, actor Catherine Deneuve talks to an audience at the National Film Theatre in London about working with director Jacques Demy.
• Restoration Demonstration (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:06:11)
• Trailer (1.85:1; 1080p/24; 00:01:56)
• An essay by critic Jim Ridley

The Final Assessment

This beautiful and heartrending French New Wave/”tradition of quality” film from Jacques Demy remains an unmistakable musical classic. Forget about La La Land and watch this colorful gem, which has never looked better than it does in this new 4K restoration. It is disappointing not to see an HDR/Dolby Vision grading on such a colorful film, but this release and disappointing not to get some new extras with it, but the upgrade is definitely worth it.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is out on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray May 6, 2025 from Criterion Collection

Details

• Rating Certificate: Not Rated
• Studios & Distributors: Parc Film | Madeleine Films | Beta Film | Ciné Tamaris |The Criterion Collection
• Director: Jacques Demy
• Written By: Jacques Demy
• Run Time: 92 Mins.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
• HDR Format: SDR
• Primary Audio: French DTS-HD MA 5.0
• Subtitles: English
• Street Date: 6 May 2025