Most GenXers and post-GenXers I know detest Broadway musicals, thinking them rather silly and tuning out whenever the cast bursts into song. New optimism has emerged recently, however, since many from the younger generation have responded positively to Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge. That offers hope that this audience may discover an older operetta-style classic, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg), even when sung in French and subtitled for monolingual English speakers. The DVD features a bright new print, with its bright purple, blue, red, and yellow hues fully restored to its 1964 glory.

While Luhrmann's musical rests on the phrase "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return," The Umbrellas of Cherbourg deals with love themes far more profoundly, drawing the audience into the stylized world of musical theater far easier than you'd imagine. Every single word is sung, including simple greetings like "bonjour" and "au revoir." You may find adjusting to the singing dialogue challenging for the first couple of minutes, but soon the format becomes comfortable, and the characters and story unfold compellingly.

Even if thoughts of a musical love story don't interest, this film is worth the time just for historical purposes, since it introduces the ravishing Catherine Deneuve to the film community. Twenty years old then, Deneuve plays seventeen-year old Genevieve, who lives with her mother (Anne Vernon) in the village umbrella shop. Genevieve has fallen head over heels in love with twenty-year-old Guy (Nino Castelnuovo), a gas station attendant of whom her mother doesn't approve. No way to control hormonally charged youth, so the lovers meet in secret and eventually consummate the relationship just before Guy ships out to join the army for two years.

With the umbrella shop in financial danger, Roland Cassard (Marc Michel) steps into the picture. He is a well-mannered businessman who offers stability. Humorously, Genevieve's mother seems to think initially that he may have affections for her, but soon enough she finds that he proposes marriage with her daughter, even after discovering that she is pregnant with Guy's child. Of course the mother approves of this, as he promises a much better future.

Will Genevieve choose stability over her first love? It's a question she alone must answer, realizing the consequences of her choice. Providing a parallel motif, both men absent themselves from Cherbourg as Genevieve ponders whether to marry the man who sends occasional love letters or the one who sends a steady diet of postcards. Which kind of love best suits Genevieve (or any of us, for that matter)? No matter which you choose, there necessarily must be some grief for the love that is denied.

Unlike most musicals, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg doesn't end with a simplistic sappy ending; instead, it leaves us with poignant images that cause us to recall our own roads taken and not taken. Although initially upbeat with a jazzy score, a pervasive melancholy haunts much of the movie, re-inforced by Michel Legrand's original music, the main theme a recognizable tune expressing passionate longing and the idea of faithfully waiting until the lover returns. Have a supply of tissue around when watching.

I was surprised at how deeply I became involved with this story, and it has aged extremely well. Even if you don't generally care for musicals, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg doesn't play like a traditional musical genre work, as its unique style never took off. Baz Luhrmann boldly attempted to revive that musical style last year with his gaudy and superficial Moulin Rouge, but he forgets the greatest strengths of director/writer Jacques Demy's masterpiece—developing well-rounded characters that stretch far beyond the lyrics and basic plot, leaving indelible imagery. Certain works of art have the power to touch deeper regions of the heart, and Demy's classic film reaches right down and firmly gives it a gentle massage.