Catalog

HOW TO

IMPRESS YOUR

perfect partner 6 ways to score high with your ideal partner As seen in the films of Jacques Demy

1

01 02 PRAISE HIM GET TO KNOW HIM

Page 12

Page 04

table of contents

03 04 05 06 ROAM AROUND WITH HIM

LURE HIM WITH YOUR VOICE

WATCH HIS FAVORITE MOVIES

GO ON A DATE

Page 106

Page 44

Page 34

Page 18

get to know him 01

4

Un

01

5

get to know him

get to know him

01

PRINCE CHARMING meet jacques demy

6

One of the outstanding filmmakers of post-war France, Demy is best known for his first feature Lola (1961) and for Les Parapluies de Cherbourg / The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), his first musical proper. Demy was brought up in Nantes, a city he loved (the affection is well captured in Agnès Varda’s moving film portrait Jacquot de Nantes, 1991), and where he made his earliest amateur movie. He studied cinema in Paris, training in short films with Georges Rouquier and later in animation with Paul Grimault. Lola, a lyrical poem to Nantes and the cabaret artiste played by Anouk Aimée, shared some of the aesthetic concerns of the New Wave (although Demy was not strictly part of it): location shooting, exuberant miseen-scène—especially stunning camerawork

by Raoul Coutard—and love for the American cinema. Les Parapluies de Cherbourg inaugurated the “bitter-sweet” Demy universe, with sentimental music by Michel Legrand, pastel colour-scheme, and the innovation of all-sung dialogue. The film turned Catherine Deneuve into a star and was awarded a prize at Cannes, but Demy never matched its popular success in his subsequent chequered career, although Peau D’Âne / Donkey Skin (1970), a sumptuous adaptation of the Perrault fairy tale, came near.

Nevertheless, Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (1967) and Une chambre en ville (1982), like Les Parapluies, beautifully illustrate Demy’s original, if not totally satisfactory, pursuit of a specifically French musical genre.

Born: June 5, 1931, Pontchâteau, France

7

/ Director, Screenwriter

Died: October 27, 1990, Paris, France

get to know him

01

JACK OF ALL TRADES the director

8

get familiar with how he is quintessentially “Demy”

Jacques Demy’s films inhabit worlds in themselves—personal and imaginary worlds, self-contained and organic. Demy’s legacy may lack consistent quality, but not consistent personal vision: while his contemporaries abandoned poetry for politics, Demy remained faithful to the romanticism of his boyhood projects. His fairy tale themes, his flair with light, color and music, and his wistful, innocent tone comprise a powerful signature style, and several spectacles from his films resound today as quintessentially “Demy”. His resonant personal vision should alone justify his inclusion among the “auteurs”, at least in its simplest sense, defined by Andrew Sarris as a director with a salient visual style. Yet while Demy enjoyed early critical acclaim, he fell from fashion in the wake of May ’68, as French critics increasingly berated him as apolitical and Americans like Pauline Kael grew to label him a naïve idol of American genre. These receptions underestimate Demy, who deserves a second look towards inclusion in the great directors pantheon. However simplistic or kitschy his spectacles may appear today, they do share layers of intertext and nuance, and however naïve his stories, they do yield a freshness and optimism that endured long after the erosion of the New Wave.

Era: French New Wave

GOGETTER his early career

Born in Pontchâteau, on France’s Atlantic coast, in 1931, Jacques Demy enjoyed a playful childhood in Nantes, where he directed animated and live-action shorts and studied fine arts. After training with the famed animator Paul Grimault, he assisted the documentarian Georges Rouquier, with whom he produced his first documentary short, Le Sabotier du Val de Loire, in 1955. His first feature, Lola (1961), captivated Jean-Luc Godard in Cahiers du cinéma and ushered him into the fringes of the New Wave. He followed with a charming chapter, “La Luxure” (“Lust”), for Les Sept péchés capitaux (The Seven Deadly Sins, 1961), adding to segments by Godard, Roger Vadim, and Claude Chabrol, and his second feature, La Baie des Anges (Bay of Angels, 1962), a gambling melodrama starring Jeanne Moreau and Claude Mann. In 1962, Demy married the filmmaker Agnès Varda, which solidified his affiliations with a group of directors known as the “Left Bank”. The Left Bank—Varda, Chris Marker, Alain Resnais, and Alain Robbe-Grillet—identified themselves this way for their Paris neighborhood as well as for their leftist persuasion. The group distinguished themselves through political content from the aesthetically focused New Wave.

9

Spouse: Agnès Varda Child: Mathieu Demy

get to know him

01

10

/ Jacques Demy on set in 1967

he has the ability to transform a landscape into a magiccal realm

EYES SO BLUE his vision

In the words of critic Terrence Rafferty, Demy aimed “to seduce, not to challenge” or, in his own words, to disguise reality, “masking pessimism”. For each film, Demy constructed an elaborate mise-en-scène as a world into itself, shooting on location but transforming the landscape into a magical realm. For Lola, Demy worked with cinematographer Raoul Coutard to enhance the gleaming sunlight of Nantes’ ports; for La Baie des Anges, he used Jean Rabier’s sweeping widescreen to exaggerate the vistas of Nice.

In Les Parapluies, Demy sought to create “a mixture of poetry, color and music”. Accordingly, he ordered his crew to repaint entire blocks of houses, making over Cherbourg into a symphony of vibrant primaries and pastels, depending on the season. Color film had yet to become popular among the New Wave and the Left Bank, but Demy embraced the Eastmancolor range, spilling stylised color onto Jacqueline Moreau’s costumes and Bernard Evein’s sets. For Rochefort, he added brilliant white to this palette to imitate the seaside sun.

11

He also clung to themes of childhood reverie, a quality of wistfulness. While the New Wave tended towards Brechtian roughness and the Left Bank veered towards realism or philosophical ambiguity, Demy, in a sense, never grew up. Even “La Luxure” frames its fleeting sexual images through the eyes of a “pure and innocent” schoolboy. Perhaps inspired by Demy himself, this boy confuses “lechery” with “luxury”, and not even his parents know what the word really means. This humor of innocence, prevalent throughout his career, tempts critics to liken Demy to a naïf, but doing so hints that he was something of a folk artist. In fact, Demy worked with a sophisticated cinematic literacy, even drawing his dreamy quality from Cocteau and the surrealists.

praise him

02

Deux

12

02

13

praise him

praise him

02

WIN HIM OVER? his accolades

14

2001 1965

1965

1965

1964

1963

New York Film Critics Circle Special Award - Won Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Adapted Score - Nominated Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Screenplay - Nominated Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Song - Nominated Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Foreign Language Film - Nominated French Film Critics Circle Prix Louis-Delluc - Won

15

/ Jacques Demy receives ‘La Cigale d’Or’ award in Nantes, France on April 29, 1985.

praise him

02

16

/ Agnes Varda, his proud wife

17

/ Gene Kelly and Jacques Demy at the 1964 (37th) Academy Awards Governors Ball

roam around with him 03

Trois

18

03

19

roam around with him

roam around with him

03

STROLL ALONG Nantes, France

20

Visited every year by over a million people, Nantes’ diversity astonishes and its treasures delight. It boasts a rich architectural heritage, which includes the Castle of the Dukes of Brittany, Passage Pommeraye, Île Feydeau and Graslin theatre. Here, culture is celebrated in a friendly and stimulating environment.

Nantes is nestled on the Loire estuary, the longest river in France and last wild river in Europe. Here, the river is still influenced by the tides, and flows in both directions! The giant cranes still bear witness to the intense port activity which the city experienced up until the mid-20th century. Nowadays, the Loire acts as a backdrop for cultural activities, provides a haven for protected animals and plants and beckons people to enjoy the nearby beaches and coastline for relaxing or water sports.

As a city that was once home to the Dukes of Brittany, Nantes – a city which is Breton at heart – embodies the history of an area of transition between the countryside and the sea, between Brittany and the Loire, and between the roots of identity and the openness to discovery.

21

Jacques Demy lived in Nantes all his life and cherished every moment

/ The City of Nantes today

roam around with him

03

22

/ Nantes as seen on the sets of Lola

HIS HAPPY PLACE Forever his favorite city

Demy was a child of Nantes, a large commercial port in western France, on the mouth of the Loire River. The city thrived on the slave trade to America in the eighteenth century, before turning to the import of exotic products and shipbuilding. After World War II, which ended when he was barely fifteen, Demy often had to walk home from school through the bustling port. On Sundays, the citizens of Nantes enjoyed their promenades with their families along the loading docks, using the transporter bridge to cross the Loire and visiting the warships, mostly American, whose arrivals were always a major event. Nantes was scarred by the war, and an entire section of the city center—near the Demy family’s auto-repair shop—had been razed by Allied air raids when little Jacques was twelve.

Of all the filmmakers of the French New Wave, Demy was, along with Claude Chabrol, the most provincial. Demy, was always searching for the image of Nantes wherever he went; in other words, a port just far enough from the sea to offer no direct view of it but close enough to give a sense of its presence.

Demy, was always searching for the image of Nantes wherever he went

23

roam around with him

03

24

/ A still from L’univers de Jacques Demy, 1995

UNDER A SPELL The city of love

Demy shot only two films in Nantes, but they have pride of place in his work, illustrating his belief that cities, like people, are divided between shadow and light, seriousness and nonchalance. In Lola, the city is sunny, modern, joyfully enlivened by the fairground attractions and the American sailors out on a binge. In Une chambre en ville (1982), the city becomes dark, closed in on itself, beleaguered by workers’ demonstrations that turn the streets into a battlefront. We recognize these opposing visions in the representations these two films offer of the Passage Pommeraye, that mysterious heart of Nantes so beloved of the surrealists and that Demy filmed three times.

he gave her hope that there would be more.

Demy presented The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), and Varda knew that was it—she was under the spell. They still hadn’t met, although she wrote him a letter—unsigned!—to tell him how deeply moved she was by The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967). The midseventies was one of the worst periods in his career, when it seemed that all his projects came to nothing. She appeared at the right moment, ready to stand up for his films, eager to make his work the subject of her doctoral thesis. It was published in 1982 and was the first book about his work. By then, they had developed a relationship of trust and friendship—he shared his projects with her, allowed her to follow the production of his last three films, and gave her hope that there would be more.

25

roam around with him

03

PLAN YOUR DAY Place Graslin

26

The Graslin square is one of the main squares of the city center of Nantes, in France, the most outstanding monument is the Graslin Theatre.

The Graslin square is a rectangle attached to a semicircle whose radius is oriented to the South. It is served by eight streets: streets CrÊbillon, Molière, Corneille, Racine, Voltaire, Piron, Regnard and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

The square is paved and largely pedestrianized, except the west side serving Racine streets and Piron (the start of the Rue Voltaire is also a pedestrian zone) which are open to traffic.

On its north side is the Graslin Theatre; south of the square is the Brasserie La Cigale.

THINK PRESTIGE Le thÊâtre

With its eight columns, vestibules and majestic statues, the Graslin Theater seems to have come straight out of ancient Greece. A must for lovers of opera, the Nantes also appreciate its flight of steps allowing you to enjoy the unique panorama of the lively Place Graslin!

Neoclassical building of the XVIIIth, the theater is the fruit of the work of the financier Jean-Joseph Louis Graslin. At the time, Nantes doubled its population and extended to the West. His plan to bring out a new bourgeois quarter on the hill, overlooking the Quai de la Fosse, led him to build a theater there. The realization of this work is entrusted to the architect Nantais Mathurin Crucy.

Inaugurated in March 1788, the theater suffered a terrible fire a few years later in 1796. It was during an official visit to Nantes that Napoleon decided to reconstruct it. In 1998, the theater was part of the inventory of historical monuments.

27

roam around with him

03

SING TO THEIR HISTORY explore the Graslin theatre

28

The splendid theater “the Italian” makes the wonder of this theater. Capable of accommodating 784 spectators, its seats are lined with blue velvet, an element unusual for a theater.

The ceiling, painted by Hippolyte Berteaux, official painter of the City, is a true fresco on Greek mythology. It was not until the last renovation, in 1968, that the theater rediscovered its harmonies of blue, gray and gold wished

by Crucy. Other interior work has since been carried out respecting the place. As a result, Nantes is one of the four French cities to have preserved rooms dating from the 18th century.

The mixed union Angers Nantes Opéra, the fruit of a partnership between the two cities, has since 2003 managed the theater Graslin.

His will? To promote lyrical art to all audiences, from large pieces of repertoire to contemporary creations. The administration is divided between the two cities with separate rooms for each. In Nantes, performances are held at the Graslin Theater, La Cité, the Congress Center and the Grand T. With a rhythm of five to seven productions per season and eight performances on average per performance, Angers Nantes Opéra Lyrical repertoire.

29

/ a beautiful example of neo-classicism and one of the rare venues in which the velvet is blue

/ A majestic, lyrical experience in the Graslin Operaa

roam around with him

03

DINE IN STYLE la cigale

30

La Cigale, famous brasserie style “art nouveau”, facing the theater was inaugurated on 1 April 1895. It is the work of architect Emile Libaudière ceramist Nantes and was classified a historic monument in 1964.

Sought out for its sumptuous and protected heritage interior, this brasserie was once the headquarters for the Surrealists, and it still never disappoints. You’ll want to go for the 6 varieties of oysters, its seafood platters, its “Muscadothèque” and all the classics: magret (sliced duck breast), tartare, prime rib steak, etc.), served (early and) till late in the evening.

But it’s also open for breakfast – homemade viennoiseries, crème caramel au beurre salé de Guérande (salt butter caramel custard), crémet Nantais with seasonal fruit – and there are the new “chic et choc” lunchtime prix-fixe menus.

31

/ The City of Nantes today

/ Rue Crebillion with an array of brands to choose from

roam around with him

03

SHOP TILL YOU DROP rue crébillon

32

Rue Crébillon was one of the first streets in Nantes with gas street lighting. Since the street was closed to traffic a few years ago, it is not that hard to imagine those bygone days.

This shopping street is still a popular shopping destination with its pastry shops, jewellers and luxurious clothing brands. Here you will find labels such as Gérard Darel, Maje and Lacoste.

Another exclusive shop is L’Artisan Parfumeur, which sells traditionally made perfumes. Half way down the street the Crébillon-Scribe Arcade begins, with trendy French fashion labels such as Isabelle Marant, LaFée Maraboutée and Stella Cadente.

passage pommeraye

A side street off the Rue Crébillon leads to an even more famous shopping arcade: Passage Pommeraye. This 1843 shopping arcade has been declared a historic monument and resembles a theatre with its many banisters, pillars and a monumental wooden and wrought iron stairway. The 3 storeys are bathed in natural light that pours in through the large glass roof. The arcade exudes an old-fashioned charm with many traditional shops tucked away among modern boutiques that sell Hermès or L’Occitane. You may even stumble across an authentic stamp shop from the 1950s.

33

/ This luxorious enclave quickly became a place of fashion, walk, shop and even flirt to the bourgeoisie

lure him with your voice 04

34

Qua tre

04

35

lure him with your voice

get to know him

01

MUSICAL MAESTRO 36

36

“Ever since I was a boy, my ambition has been to live completely surrounded by music. My dream is not to miss out anything. That’s why I’ve never settled on one musical discipline. I love playing, conducting, singing and writing, and in all styles. So I turn my hand to everything - not just a bit of everything. Quite the opposite. I do all these activities at once, seriously, sincerely and with deep commitment.”

37

/ During his piano cover for Loving Me, Loving You, Loving Me

roam around with him

03

38

/ Jazz night in Brazil, 2014

GET INSPIRED michel legrand

Legrand was born in the Bécon les Bruyères district of Courbevoie, a suburb of Paris. His father Raymond Legrand was a conductor and composer renowned for hits such as Irma la douce, and his mother was Marcelle Der Mikaëlian (sister of conductor Jacques Hélian), who married Legrand Senior in 1929. His maternal grandfather was of Armenian descent and considered a member of the bourgeoisie.

Legrand has composed more than two hundred film and television scores and several musicals and has made well over a hundred albums. He has won three Oscars (out of 13 nominations) and five Grammys and has been nominated for an Emmy. He was 22 when his first album, I Love Paris, became one of the best-selling instrumental albums ever released. He is a virtuoso jazz and classical pianist and an accomplished arranger and conductor who performs with orchestras all over the world.

He studied music at the Paris Conservatoire from 1943-50 (ages 11–18), working with, among others, Nadia Boulanger, who also taught many other composers, including Aaron Copland and Philip Glass, and Ástor Piazzolla.

Legrand graduated with top honors as both a composer and a pianist

A side street off the Rue Crébillon leads to an even more famous shopping arcade: Passage Pommeraye. This 1843 shopping arcade has been declared a historic monument and resembles a theatre with its many 39 banisters, pillars and a monumental wooden and wrought iron stairway. The 3 storeys are bathed in natural light that pours in through the large glass roof. The arcade exudes an old-fashioned charm with many traditional shops tucked away among modern boutiques that sell Hermès or L’Occitane. You may even stumble across an authentic stamp shop from the 1950s.

During various periods of creative work, Legrand became a conductor for orchestras in St. Petersburg, Florida, Vancouver, Montreal, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and Denver. He recorded more than one hundred albums with international musical stars (spanning the genres of jazz, variety, and classical) and worked with such diverse musicians as Phil Woods, Ray Charles, Claude Nougaro, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand and many more.

Legrand has also recorded classical piano pieces by Erik Satie and American composers such as Amy Beach, George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, John Cage, and Conlon Nancarrow.

He is a prolific recorder of jazz, popular and classical music albums, having released over one hundred.

roam around with him

03

“Jacques and I had to work really hard to get this project off the ground�

ealm

40

/ Legrand at a concert lead by him

THINK BIG musical scores

Legrand is known principally as a composer of innovative music for films, composing film scores (about two hundred to date) for directors Jean-Luc Godard, Richard Brooks, Claude Lelouch, Clint Eastwood, Barbra Streisand, Robert Altman, Joseph Losey, and many others. Legrand himself appears and performs in Agnès Varda’s French New Wave classic, Cleo from 5 to 7 (1961). After his songs appeared in Jacques Demy’s films The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1966), Legrand became famous worldwide. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg was a sung-through musical in which all the dialogue was set to music, a revolutionary concept at the time.

Hollywood soon became interested in Legrand after The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, bombarding him with requests to compose music for films. Having begun to collaborate with Hollywood, Legrand continued to work there for many years. Among his best-known scores are those for The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), which features the hit song “The Windmills of Your Mind”, The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun (1970) and Summer of ‘42 (1971), which features another hit song, “The Summer Knows”. Legrand also wrote the score for Orson Welles’s last-completed film, F for Fake (1974).

With the advent of the French New Wave, he became one of the architects of the revival of French cinema. With Jacques Demy, his creative alter ego, he invented a new genre of film musical. As well as being awarded the 41 Palme d’Or at the Cannes festival and the Prix Louis Delluc, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg achieved massive world-wide success despite the pessimistic predictions of many industry professionals. “Jacques and I had to work really hard to get this project off the ground,” remembers Legrand, “The producers showed us the door saying: “You’re a couple of nice young guys, but do you really think that people will spend an hour-and-a-half listening to characters singing life’s little platitudes!” They were afraid to finance a film that substituted singing for dialogue and that had a realist slant, much the same as everyday life.

In other words, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a work that was made against everybody’s better judgement!” The parting lovers’ theme song, Je ne pourrai jamais vivre sans toi, initially covered by Nana Mouskouri, became a popular standard, largely owing to the English adaptation by Norman Gimbel ( I Will Wait for You ) as well as versions by Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Louis Armstrong and Liza Minelli. Legrand continued to set Jacques Demy’s imaginative lyrics to music ( Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, Peau d’âne, Trois places pour le 26 ), although he moved to Los Angeles in 1968 for what he called “a change of scene”.

get to know him

01

42

42

/ Demy and Legrand on the sets of Umbrellas of Cherbourg

43

“Melody is a mistress to whom I’ll always be faithful”

lure him with your voice 04

44

Cinq

05

45

watch his favorite movies with him

watch his favorite movies with him 05

46

/ Lola striking a pose

LOLA (1961) a musical without music

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.

47

watch his favorite movies with him

05

CAST LOLA / ANOUK AIMEE There’s a new love triangle in Nantes: Roland is quite smitten with Lola, however she still loves her ex Michel. Who will she choose?

48

ROLAND CASSARD / MARC MICHEL Roland has been accused of diamond-struggling.

Will this ruin his affair with Lola?

CÉCILE DESNOYERS / ANNIE DUPÉROUX Is Cecile the next Lola?

MICHEL / JACQUES HARDEN Lola still hopes that her son’s father, Michel the true love of her life - will someday return to them. What does destiny have in store for them?

MADAME DESNOYERS / ELINA LABOURDETTE Madame Desnoyer, a widow, is quite taken with Roland but does he have any interest in her.

49

watch his favorite movies with him

05

AWARDS 1963 2001

50

BAFTA Awards Nominated-Best Film from any Source Nominated-Best Foreign Actress New York Film Critics Circle Awards Won-Special Award

51

/ Jacques Demy and Actress Anouk AimĂŠe with Lola girls Receiving The 1961 Nouvelle Critique Award

watch his favorite movies with him

05

SOUNDTRACKS music for irony

52

Even though this isn’t a musical, music is hugely important in this film. Take the iconic opening shots of Michel driving down the street in his convertible, the score swelling with violins. Then, all of a sudden, the music changes to a primal drum beat, and the editing becomes much more rapid and jagged, creating tension and urgency building up to Michel’s almost running over a group of sailors. Demy also uses music for irony, as in the scene when Roland goes to see the barber about a job and finds out that he’s being employed by a small time criminal. As the barber discloses the job and airs a few threats the score is comically self-aware, drum beats and sax attempting to evoke mystery and menace, while acknowledging the comedy of the situation.

7ème Symphonie 3:41 Music by Ludwig van Beethoven Le Clavier bien tempèré Music by Johann Sebastian Bach

2:18

Concerto pour flûte en ré majeur Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1:32

L'Invitation à la Valse Music by Carl Maria von Weber

1:27

Moi, j'étais pour elle Written by Marguerite Monnot

2:45

Lola (theme music) Written by Agnès Varda

1:24

53

watch his favorite movies with him 05

BEHIND THE SCENES

54

55

/ Jacques Demy in a rehearsel with the Lola cabaret girls

watch his favorite movies with him 05

56

57

/ Lola blushing in the company of her true love, Michel

watch his favorite movies with him

05

UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (1964) a poignant and melancholic musical

58

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, French Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, French musical film, released in 1964, that is unusual in that literally all of the dialogue in the movie—from mundane conversations to emotional confrontations—is sung.

Director-writer Jacques Demy dared to present a rather poignant and melancholy story in musical format, relating the tale of a torrid love affair between a teenage girl Geneviève (played by Catherine Deneuve) and a young auto mechanic Guy (Nino Castelnuovo) in Cherbourg, France, whose lives are dramatically torn apart when he is drafted to serve in the Algerian War. The cast is as charming as Michel Legrand’s lush, jazzy score, with 20-year-old Deneuve radiating an almost surrealistic beauty. The songs include the grandly romantic “I Will Wait for You,” which has since become a classic, and the music is complemented by an eye-poppingly vibrant colour palette in the film’s costumes and decor. Though the film was celebrated upon its release, winning the grand prize at the 1964 Cannes film festival, the master prints had been in a state of deterioration until Demy’s widow, Agnès Varda, completed a major restoration of the film in 1992.

59

/ Geneviève and Guy, the lovebirds secretly meet at night

watch his favorite movies with him

05

CAST GENEVIÈVE EMERY / CATHERINE DENEUVE

“It’s not my weariness that saddens me. It’s his silence.”

60

GUY FOUCHER / NINO CASTELNUOVO

“She was writing without conviction. But marrying another man! I thought she was mad at me.”

MADAME EMERY/ANNE VERNON

“You do not just fall in love with a face in the street.”

MADELEINE/ ELLEN FARNER

“Why don’t you just say you don’t like being alone?”

ROLAND CASSARD /MARC MICHEL

“We’ll raise this child together. He’ll be ours.”

61

watch his favorite movies with him

05

AWARDS 1963 1966

PRIX LOUIS-DELLUC PALME D’OR AT THE 1964 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

62 CRITICS’ PRIZE Best Film, by the French Syndicate of Film Critics ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS Foreign-language film (France) Writing (story and screenplay—written directly for the screen) Music score (substantially original) Scoring of music (adaptation or treatment) Song (“I Will Wait for You”)

63

/ Jacques Demy and Actress Catherine Deneuve attend a premiere together

watch his favorite movies with him

05

SOUNDTRACKS tragic duets cloaked in dramatic string passages

64

Michel Legrand’s abundantly lyrical soundtrack to Jacques Demy’s 1964 movie musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg faithfully evokes the film’s predominant theme of young love foiled by adult reality. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’s overriding melancholia finds a voice in two main melodic motifs Legrand uses throughout the soundtrack, the first from the Legrand jazz standard “Watch What Happens” and the second from his song “I Will Wait for You.” Legrand’s considerable arranging abilities are on display here as he works the recurring themes through a variety of settings: tragic duets cloaked in dramatic string passages, broken-down cabaret soliloquies, and even a tango piece à la Astor Piazzolla. A prevalent jazz waltz theme also seesaws its way through the score, providing a break from the gloom.

All songs composed by Michel Legrand Scene du Garage 2:49

Devant le Magasin 1:44

Sur le Quai 1:54

Dans le Magasin de Parapluie 5:23

Chez Dubourg, le Joallie 4:10

Le Retour de Guy 0:42

Chez Elise 4:18

Le Garage (Dispute) 1:56

Guy au CafĂŠ 1:44

Duo Guy Madeleine 2:57

Devant le Garage 4:53

Dans le Magasin 4:49

Diner 1:04

Recit de Cassard 2:25

Terrasse du CafĂŠ 3:07

La Station Service 2:03

Final 4:55

Le Mariage 1:01

65

watch his favorite movies with him

05

BEHIND THE SCENES

66

/ Jacques Demy helping with final adjustments

67

watch his favorite movies with him 05

68

69

/ Jacques Demy sharing a filming moment with Genvieve

watch his favorite movies with him

05

YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT (1967) pastel paradise of costumes

70

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.

watch his favorite movies with him

05

71

/ The twin sisters join in for an impromptu jam

watch his favorite movies with him

05

CAST DELPHINE GARNIER / CATHERINE DENEUVE Delphine is unhappy with the egotistical gallery owner Guillaume so ends the relationship. As she leaves, she notices a painting that looks remarkably like her. Why did Maxence paint Delphine?

72

SOLANGE GARNIER / FRANÇOISE DORLÉAC Her papers, including the concerto she has been working on, go flying, and so does Andy’s heart. Will he and Solange meet again and become a couple?

MAXENCE/JACQUES PERRIN

“I must steer clear of dreary bourgeoisie art, I must be avant-garde and paint what’s in my heart.”

ANDY MILLER / GENE KELLY As Solange is on her way to pick up her younger brother from school, she happens to bump into a charming foreigner, who turns out to be Andy. Was it love at first sight?

SIMON DAME / MICHEL PICCOLI

“She had this silly fear that if she went to bed, she’d suddenly wake up one day without her head”

73

watch his favorite movies with him

05

AWARDS 1969 2011

74

ACADEMY AWARDS, USA Nominated for Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture SAN SEBASTIĂ N INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Classic Retrospective

75

/ Catherine Deneuve and Gene Kelly on the sets of Young Girls of Rochefort

watch his favorite movies with him

05

SOUNDTRACKS seamless jazz, strings and vocal

76

The Young Girls of Rochefort manages to provide more thrills as Legrand’s prevalent jazz arrangements effectively mirror Demy’s sunny excavation of the town of Rochefort; gone are the melancholy themes of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’s lost love and cloudy skies in favor of a splashy tone better suited to The Young Girls of Rochefort’s innocuous romance and outdoor production numbers. Legrand is even able to match Demy’s nostalgic postwar leanings as he successfully evokes and melds two musical staples of the era-big band swing and string laden vocal numbers. Throughout the score, in fact, Legrand blends jazz, strings and vocals into seamless and compact pieces; “Le Pont Transbordeur”’s swirling strings envelope and whisk a jazz piano trio into double time with no compromise to the swinging tempo and on “Arrive de Comionneurs,” a seeming cacophony of dense reeds, muscular brass, layered vocal harmonies and dizzying string passages merge harmoniously under the taut arrangement. His contrasting knack for understatement is also well represented here by the yearningly plaintive “Chanson de Maxence,” the melody of which becomes a major motif for longing throughout the score.

Michel Legrand offers up a variety of pleasures on The Young Girls of Rochefort—namely great songs-and in the process, elegantly brings Jacques Demy’s musical to life.

All songs written by Michel Legrand Theme du Concerto 2:27

Chanson de Maxence 3:01

Chanson d’Un Jour d’ètè 1:56 Chanson de Simon 2:46

La Femme Coupée en Morceaux 2:38

Roujours Jamais 2:45

Marins, Amis, Amants Ou Maris 2:36 Les Rencontres 2:35

De Delphine a Lancien 2:20

Nous Voyageons de Ville en Ville 1:44

Chanson de Jumelles 2:08

Chanson de Solange 1:55

Terrasse du Café 3:07

Final 4:55

77

watch his favorite movies with him 05

BEHIND THE SCENES

78

79

/ Rejoicing after a successful shoot of their dance routine

watch his favorite movies with him 05

80

81

/ The crew practising their routine

watch his favorite movies with him

05

THE MODEL SHOP (1969) spellbinding fateful encounters

82

Covering a twenty-four hour period in the life of George Matthews (Gary Lockwood), an unemployed architect stuck in a dead end relationship with an aspiring actress (Alexandra Hay), the film tracks George’s attempt to raise enough money to prevent his car from being repossessed but switches gears when he catches sight of a strikingly beautiful woman, dressed in white, at a car lot. Intrigued, he begins to follow her around the city, eventually arriving at her place of employment, a “model shop” where men pay to photograph women in a choice of intimate settings. Lola (Anouk Aimee), a recently divorced French woman with no work permit, is working there until she can raise enough money to purchase air fare back to Paris. Like two ships passing in the night, Lola and George have a brief but fateful encounter that alters their destinies in subtle but possibly profound ways.

Los Angeles has served as the backdrop for countless Hollywood movies but in Jacques Demy’s The Model Shop (1969), the French director’s first and only American film, the city becomes the real protagonist, with its sprawling urban landscape, oil derricks, desolate beaches and constant traffic providing a vivid canvas for a contemporary love story about romantic longing and unrealized dreams.

83

/ George spellbound by Lola’s beauty

watch his favorite movies with him

05

CAST LOLA / ANOUK AIMEE George spends his last twelve dollars to photograph Lola, a French model. What does attraction and desparation lead to?

84

GEORGE MATTHEWS / GARY LOCKWOOD

“I just wanted to tell her that I love her. I wanted her to know that I was going to begin again.”

GLORIA / ALEXANDRA HAY Waiting to be drafted, George is unable to commit himself to anything or anybody, including his girlfriend Gloria.

Who is to blame?

ROB / CRAIG LITTLER George and Lola talk of their failed romances, their hopes, their dashed dreams, philosophy, and mortality. Does this bring them closer or do they drift apart?

GERRY / TOM FIELDING George sees a beautiful woman and follows her. Does fate always have a plan?

85

watch his favorite movies with him

05

AWARDS 2011 2013

86

SAN SEBASTIÁN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Classic Retrospective BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL Love

87

watch his favorite movies with him

05

SOUNDTRACKS capturing the spirit of L.A.

88

Model Shop is a 2005 album by the Los Angeles group, Spirit, which collects the material they recorded in 1968, for the soundtrack to Jacques Demy’s film Model Shop. Chronologically, the album’s material falls in between their second and third albums, The Family That Plays Together (1968) and Clear (1969) respectively.

For his film, director Jacques Demy wanted a band that captured the vibe of Los Angeles as he saw it. After hearing Spirit perform in an L.A. club, he decided that they would be the perfect group for his film’s soundtrack.

All songs by Spirit The Moving Van 1:56 Mellow Fellow 2:50 Now or Anywhere 4:40 Fog 2:26 Green Gorilla 2:13 Model Shop I 2:02 Model Shop II (Clear) 4:11 The Rehearsal Theme 1:11 Song for Lola 5:47 Eventide 3:57 Coral 4:23 Aren’t You Glad 2:12

89

watch his favorite movies with him 05

BEHIND THE SCENES

90

91

/ George and Gerry in deep thought

watch his favorite movies with him 05

92

93

/ Casually following the woman of his dreams

watch his favorite movies with him

05

THE DONKEY SKIN (1970) musical fantasy fairytale

94

A King (Jean Marais) loses his beloved Queen (Catherine Deneuve), whose dying wish is for him to remarry, but only to “a woman more beautiful than I.” His advisors urge him to find a new Queen, for the good of the kingdom, but none strike his fancy. At last his attentions turn to his own radiant daughter, who is the youthful image of his dead wife (and well she should be, since she’s also played by Catherine Deneuve). With the help of the arch Lilac Fairy (Delphine Seyrig), the Princess nervously flees marriage to her father by wearing the skin of his prize magical donkey (gold coins literally cascaded out of its rear). She hides out in a neighboring kingdom, where she is ridiculed by the townspeople (in truth, the donkey pelt has begun to smell horribly) and can only find work for a hag so cruel that every time she speaks a frog pops out of her mouth. When a handsome young Prince (Jacques Perrin) comes to town, he falls madly in love with the disguised Princess, not knowing her true identity. The Prince is so enamored that he can’t even get out of bed, spending all of his time (literally) fantasizing about her. His distraught parents, the Red King (Fernand Ledoux) and Red Queen (Micheline Presle), send an envoy to the “scullery wench,” telling her to bake their son a special cake... and indeed she does. Inside, the Prince finds a golden ring, and vows to marry only the woman whose finger it fits (shades of Cinderella’s glass slipper). After trying it on every over-eager woman in the kingdom, at last Donkey Skin appears.The entire court holds both its breath and its noses as the Prince tries the ring on her finger.

Will it be “happily ever after”?

95

/ And they lived happily ever after...?

watch his favorite movies with him

05

CAST THE FIRST QUEEN/THE PRINCESS / CATHERINE DENEUVE

“Poetry deranges you, Father.”

96

THE FIRST KING / JEAN MARAIS Why does the princess escape wearing the skin of the king’s prize donkey?

THE LILAC FAIRY / DELPHINE SEYRIG

“Fairies, like women, hold grudges.”

THE PRINCE / JACQUES PERRIN

“Fairies are an unseen force that drive us to act for good... or evil.”

THE RED QUEEN / MICHELINE PRESLE A wandering prince sees the princess in the woods and is smitten.

Can love find its course, and does the princess learn a lesson of life’s hardships?

97

watch his favorite movies with him

05

AWARDS 1972

98

CINEMA WRITERS CIRCLE OF SPAIN CEC Award (Best Children’s film)

99

/ Jacques Demy in the king’s magical palace

watch his favorite movies with him

05

SOUNDTRACKS brilliantly odd and happy

100

Peau d’Ane (Donkey Skin), a musical version of the 1694 French fairy tale by Charles Perrault, was Demy’s first film after returning to France.

The music by Michele Legrand is magical.

Listen for a jaunty little number of the servants and working folk conjecturing about who this mysterious woman in a donkey skin is and a happy little tune the Princess sings as she bakes a gateau while she’s wearing her sun bright dress. The numbers in this film are sure to make you bob and bounce.

All songs written by Michel Legrand Theme song (Générique) 2:09

Rigodon On the Farm (Rigodon à la ferme) 1:12

Once Upon a Time (Il était une fois) 3:29

Time Stops (Le temps arrêté) 1:52

The Ministers, the Scientist (Les ministres, le savant) 3:22

Song of the Prince (Chanson du Prince) 2:05

Love…Love (Amour… Amour) 2:31 Declaration of Love (Déclaration d’amour) 2:09 Advice of the Lilac Fairy (Conseils de la fée des Lilas) 2:01 The Three Dresses (Les trois robes) 4:37 Donkey Skin Flees (Peau d’âne s’enfuit) 1:33 The Prince Runs Away (Fugue du Prince) 1:10

The Prince Dies of Love (Le Prince se meurt d’amour) 2:52 Return to the Red Castle (Retour au Château Rouge) 1:34 Secret Dreams of a Prince and Princess (Rêves secrets d’un Prince et d’une Princesse) 4:10 The Cat and Bird Ball (Le bal du chat et des oiseaux) 1:49 Recipe for a Love Cake (Recette pour un cake d’amour) 2:59

Far From the Blue Castle (Loin du Château Bleu) 5:26

Rustic Runaway (Idylle fuguée) 1:16

Donkey Skin Arrives On the Farm (Peau d’âne arrive à la ferme) 1:38

The Prince’s Return to the Castle (Retour du Prince au château) 0:49

Insults (Les Insultes) 2:41

Finger Massage (Le massage des doigts) 2:11 Final (Final) 2:10

101

watch his favorite movies with him 05

BEHIND THE SCENES

102

103

/ The princess in the skin of the king’s prized donkey

watch his favorite movies with him 05

104

105

/ Jacques Demy enacting a scene with the princess

go on a date 06

Six

106

06

107

go on a date

go on a date

06

THE DUET OF DESTINY a jacques demy film festival

108

Celebrate love at Jacques Demy’s film festival this Valentine’s day. The festival is an ode to Jacques Demy as a brilliant director, honoring his love for music through live performances and whimsy. The festival is open to anyone wanting to experience love in Nantes, France.

Are you heartbroken?

Is your relationship in danger?

Looking for that ideal partner?

How hard is it to find your one true love?

What role does fate play in a relationship?

109

/ Experience a romantic getaway in Nantes, France with Jacques Demy

go on a date

06

FEBRUARY 13 12:00 pm LA CIGALE

Seaside Brunch Enjoy a sumptuous seafood masterpiece made by Nantes’s most popular Chef, Pierre Maribel

110 1:00 pm LE THÉÂTRE

2:45 pm LE THÉÂTRE

Lola Dont fall into a love triangle like Lola’s!

Michael Legrand Concert Swoon and sway to his legendary musical scores

3:40 pm LE THÉÂTRE

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Watch how fate and romance mingle in the lives of lovers

5:30 pm RUE CRÉBILLON

Meet & Greet Share a glass of wine with Aimee Anouk and Roland Cassard to end the evening

go on a date

06

FEBRUARY 14 12:00 pm

Seaside Brunch

LA CIGALE

Enjoy a sumptuous seafood masterpiece made by Nantes’s most popular Chef, Pierre Maribel

1:00 pm

Young Girls of Rochefort

LE THÉÂTRE

Celebrate and search for love and joy like this lively bunch

3:15 pm

The Model Shop

LE THÉÂTRE

Nobody said love doesn’t hurt did they?

3:40 pm LE THÉÂTRE

5:30 pm RUE CRÉBILLON

Michael Legrand concert Enjoy these lyrical masterpirces while in the arms of your love

Meet & Greet Share a glass of wine with Catherine Deneuve and Roland Cassard to end the evening

111

go on a date

06

FEBRUARY 15 12:00 pm LA CIGALE

Seaside Brunch Enjoy a sumptuous seafood masterpiece made

by Nantes’s most popular Chef, Pierre Maribel

112 1:00 pm LE THÉÂTRE

The Donkey Skin Dive into this quirky fairytale and let the magic melt your heart

3:30 pm

Michael Legrand Concert

LE THÉÂTRE

Swoon and sway to his legendary musical scores

4:30 pm RUE CRÉBILLON

Croissant & Cheese Competition Battle your newly made couple friends in a classy challenge

5:00 pm RUE CRÉBILLON

Cocktail Dancefest Dance the evening away with special drinks and your special date

6:30 pm PASSAGE POMMERAYE

Final Rendezvous Thank Jacques Demy for being your cupid and spend an electric evening with your Valentine

go on a date

06

113

Rendezvous in Nantes, France this Valentine’s

Get tickets now at duetofdestiny.com

FÉVRIER

13 14 15

roam around with him

03

114

On se voit lĂ -bas!

SEE YOU THERE!