Jour de Fete

We decided to watch The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) because we saw it contrasted to Umbrellas of Cherbourg - where the theme of Umbrellas is sadness and regret, the theme of Girls is joy. Also, it has Gene Kelly in it.

It all takes place in the provincial town of Rochefort. The festival is coming - we see the trucks of gear and performers taking the "transporter" - a huge basket on wires that carries traffic over the river, a kind of suspended ferry. In town, we meet the twins, Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac, real-life sisters in their only movie together (Dorléac died soon after). They are a musician and dancer, just dying to get out of Rochefort and into the big world.

We also meet their mama, Danielle Darrieux (RIP at age 100, this week). She runs the cafe in the town square, where the festival will be held. It is a kind of meeting place for the town. For instance, she meets two boys from the festival, George Chakiris and Grover Dale. (Aside - it was this movie that made me aware that George Chakiris - West Side Story - and George Maharis - Route 66 - are different people, not one guy with a lot of range.) Right away, she asks Chakiris to pick up here young son Boo-Boo from school. Because she doesn't want him walking home alone, and who wouldn't trust a carnie who just breezed into town?

Another visitor to the cafe is Jacques Perrin, a sailor for now, but soon to be demobbed to follow his dream of being a painter and poet. He is searching for a dream girl, who he has painted to look just like Deneuve. Will they ever meet?

Dorleac, in the meantime, has asked the owner of the music store in town for an introduction to the big producer in Paris, Gene Kelly. Then she actually bumps into Kelly, but doesn't know who he is, so she brushes him off. Will they ever find each other?

In addition, there is a bit of business with a brutal murder, but nobody seems to pay it much mind. Also, mama Darrieux tells a bit about her history, how she left her lover because his name was "Dame" - and she couldn't see herself marrying "Mr. Woman". Oh, did I mention that the music store owner is named Dame?

The girls join the festival circuit, being booth girls for Chakaris and Dale, who are selling motorboats at the festival. They will follow the circuit to Paris. The sailor poet-artist is going home to Marseilles. Kelly will go back to Paris alone. Or will these friends and lovers finally get together?

 This is all set to a jaunty Michel Grande score, with a few songs - it isn't "through-sung" like Umbrellas. It's a lovely bit of fluff that seems to be a tribute to the towns of France. Rochefort may not be exciting like Paris, but it is not exactly sleepy. It looks prosperous and civilized, comfortable, settled, but not old-fashioned. The cafe on the town square is a modern glass-walled box, but manages to be cozy nonetheless.

In conclusion, SPOILER, the answer to all of the rhetorical questions above is yes.