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This film was suggested by our member Maria Pawlikowska, who wrote: 'From what I can tell this is a beautiful and joyous, masterpiece of a musical! I’ve tried many times to watch it on a laptop but it felt like an insult and I had to stop! It seems like it deserves the big screen with good sound, as a communal experience. Its very rarely shown in cinemas.'
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.
Cast:
Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Dorléac, Jacques Perrin, Gene Kelly