Directed by Jacques Demy • 1967 • France
Starring Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Dorléac
Jacques Demy followed up THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG with another musical about missed connections and second chances, this one a more effervescent confection. Twins Delphine and Solange, a dance instructor and a music teacher (played by real-life sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac), long for big-city life; when a fair comes through their quiet port town, so does the possibility of escape. With its jazzy Michel Legrand score, pastel paradise of costumes, and divine supporting cast (George Chakiris, Grover Dale, Danielle Darrieux, Michel Piccoli, and Gene Kelly), THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT is a tribute to Hollywood optimism from sixties French cinema’s preeminent dreamer.
Up Next in The Essential Jacques Demy
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Donkey Skin
Directed by Jacques Demy • 1970 • France
Starring Catherine Deneuve, Jean Marais, Delphine SeyrigIn this lovingly crafted, wildly eccentric adaptation of a classic French fairy tale, Jacques Demy casts Catherine Deneuve as a princess who must go into hiding as a scullery maid in order to fend o...
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A Slightly Pregnant Man
Directed by Jacques Demy • 1973 • France
Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Micheline PresleFeeling out of sorts, Marco (Marcello Mastroianni), an Italian driving instructor living in Paris, pays a visit to the doctor, who promptly diagnoses him as . . . four months pregnant. It’...
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Une chambre en ville
Directed by Jacques Demy • 1982 • France
Starring Dominique Sanda, Michel Piccoli, Richard BerryIn this musical melodrama set against the backdrop of a workers’ strike in Nantes, Dominique Sanda plays a young woman who wishes to leave her brutish husband (Michel Piccoli) for an earthy steelwork...
