One of my favorite movies of all time, Jacque Demy's bittersweet love story is a audial and visual feast. Most famous for its use of music (every line is sung), we discussed in class how the film also masterfully utilizes color to tell its story about the choice to follow one's heart in the rain or put up an umbrella and play it safe.
As we discuss this film, let's begin with the following questions:
- What did you like or not like about the use of music and color? Why?
- Which characters do you most relate with? Why? Which characters do you dislike? Why?
- How did this film help you connect with French culture?
This moive is also up there on my top movies list. It was just so well done you can tell that they spent so much time on every single shot. You can tell that they spent so much time and effort into everything the music was perfect!!
ReplyDeleteI liked the music and laguage a lot it was amazing. If this movie was done in any other language itd be lame. When the music started I kept thinking I somehow know this song. It took awhile but Futurama did a bit on it so I thought that was kinda cool. I also liked just how they used the colors. Whenever a character walked into a room they usually were wearing the same color. My all time favorite thing about this movie was how it made you think. Like how some people don't make random decisions and are sheltered by the dangers in life as if an unbrella was over their head. Others are not afraid to expirence life and make risks good or bad. Some people make the wrong decision and keep the umbrella up. Which can really affect their life and others arround you. Geneviève obviously made a big mistake leaving Guy instead of waiting for him just a bit longer.
I think I relate most to Roland most I never make risks. I am always under the umbrella. But I think it not a bad thing to be predictable and dependant. He was a good guy the sad thing is both the woman he loved didn't love him back I really feel bad for him. Anyways I loved this movie and expect to see it again soon :)
That's so cool that you relate to Roland! I wouldn't expect most people to relate to him. I also like how you are willing to go against what the filmmaker seems to be saying and state your personal belief that it's ok to be predictable and dependent. Way to stick to your convictions.
DeleteCan you find that Futurama thing and share it with me.
Good job identifying the use of color.
This movie is just... Wow. It makes me feel so many emotions all at once that I can barely contain them. To me, that's what cinema as a whole is all about. When a movie can make you feel, make a multitude of emotions spring forth in such a way as to make you evaluate your own life and choices, when a movie cant make you want... That's what makes it great.
ReplyDeleteAnd, while the there is so much meaning behind everything in this film... For me it all comes down to the story and the way it was presented. The music made the dialogue tell a story in such a way as to make what would be pretty ridiculous and somewhat cheesy things to say extremely true to life and meaningful. Roland's bit about the girl who broke his heart would've been extremely out of place if not done in song. If when Guy was leaving and Genevieve only said "Je t'aime... Je t'aime... Je t'aime..." as the train was pulling away I probably would've laughed. But because it was sung my heart was breaking.
I honestly don't know which character I relate to most. I'm very empathetic towards all of them and feel I know why they all make the decisions they make. I don't know which character brings it out most... but as I'm writing and thinking about them I'm on the brink of tears. The story is just so... real. The emotions are all too true. It's life and all of it's bittersweet-ness.
Really good points about how the use of sung lines somehow brings out the emotion in powerful, real ways that would just feel cheesy without the music. I think that having the lines sung already creates a barrier between what we're seeing and how real life works so we're more accepting of the characters saying things that we'd normally find unrealistic in a movie. Add to that the power to music to connect with our hearts (e.g. how people use atmosphere music to try to control their moods) and I can see why the music has the affect you are describing.
DeleteI fell in love with the symbolic and vibrant colors that Jacques Demy put into this movie. It's such a beautiful movie to watch. Your eyes are never bored, and it pulls at the right emotions. This movie featured a never-ending array of singing. And it totally worked for me! Maybe it was because it was in French. Les Miserables does the same thing, but for me, personally, it just didnt work. Umbrellas totally rocked it though. It was never stupid or awkward.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I relate to Guy the most. His character is so deep. He feels real. I loved Genvieve at the first half of the movie. Up until she decided to marry Mr. Cassatt, I was her biggest fan, but then she made a terrible choice. Then I was Guy's #1Fan. Genevieve and Guy's early relationship reminded me a lot of my own relationship in some ways. And in a lot of ways, it didn't. And that was an interesting comparison. I lost all my respect for Genevieve when she abandoned her baby-daddy for Ritchy Rich. And you know me, Josh. According to my Myers-Briggs, I do not tolerate giving respect to those who didn't earn it, and she stopped earning it. I love the way it ended, with Guy's character arc completing, and Genevieve living in misery. A fitting end.
My thoughts about differences between Les Mis and this movie:
Delete- Singing works better when the language is French. I don't know why, but it does.
- In Les Mis, they are singing their thoughts. In this movie, they are just singing their lines.
Im gonna start off by saying this wasnt a bad movie. Im really not a musical person but the singing wasnt bad. I think the only reason i could really stand it though is because it is in French. The different language gave it a kind of beautiful sound. I really did enjoy the colors in this film though. In class we were talking about Geneviève's wardrobe colors and her feelings throughout the scenes but what really interested me was the white. When everything around her just goes white you get the feeling that everything good is just gone. And that surprised me because normally when things are going bad in a movie its represented with black or darker colors. Right? I think the white really worked for THIS FILM, its just so blah and that was perfect.
ReplyDeleteLiking characters in this movie is really hard though. The only person you can actually root for the whoule movie is Guy. I mean yeah, i loved Geneviève at the begining of the movie but then she just got stupid. I hated the mom the entire time. That poor lady was just... i dont know, i feel like she just needed to hop on Roland already and let her daughter lead her own life.
I love your thoughts about the emotional feeling that the white creates.
DeleteI agree with you that the French language allows this movie to work. If they were singing in English, it wouldn't work.
Cool connections to your personal life.
ReplyDeleteIt's totally cool to not be into singing in movies.
C.J. Barrett:
ReplyDeleteI can't say I was overly fond of every line being sung at first, but similar to whenever I watch anything with subtitles, I adjusted to it; and it didn't seem out of the ordinary for such a thing to happen. The orchestral music throughout the film was quite enjoyable though, and I thought it served nicely as a compliment as to what was going on in the story.
I can most definitely see why this film is known for colour, not only does it have a mass abundance, and excellent use of it, but its all very livid. I love the fact that the colour usage in the film is so glaringly obvious, but that the meaning behind each can become so complex and deep. I particularly enjoyed the use of complimentary colours at the beginning of the movie, Genevieve wearing Yellow, and the shop being Violet, which I interpret as Genevieve disobeying her mother's wishes by dating Guy. As it goes on, Genevieve starts wearing Blues, and at one point Red, which when mixed create Violet. And what was happening at that time? She was starting to conform to what her mother wanted more and more.
Also when it was pointed out that the Umbrella Overture at the beginning of the film followed the colour progression of the movie, my mind was exploded all over the walls. That was such a simple thing to do, but was so incredibly amazing that I was left in awe for the rest of the day.
BTW: I need you to clean up your mind from the walls.
DeleteNot my favorite flim, Josh. But it got close! Ha! Got you! But this become one of my favorite movies. I really appreciated the effort put into the use of color. But sometimes things blended in too much and it hurt my eyes and left me confused.
ReplyDeleteBut the use of color for emotions left me in awe. It was beautiful. And I didn't mind the singing. I think it worked for this. But I got so caught up in the story and visuals of the film that I forgot about the singing.
I feel a lot like Guy in the end. I was once in a very bad relationship where I wasn't appreciated and I kept thinking it may work out. But finally I got over it. He wanted to get back together and wasn't over me. I said no. Because I found someone I actually loved.
I would have to say I disliked the mother the most. Just because she told her daugther that she should stay with her love. But she still tells her daughter to marry another man.
When I think of French culture I think of food. But now I think of food and colored umbrellas.
Yeah, the mother is annoying, for sure. And then she dies and leaves everyone she influenced unhappy.
Deletei thought it was a good movie except for the fact that the hole movie was sung. that part was kind of hard to follow but i thought the story line was good. i love the french language, i think its very beautiful and part of the reason why the singing was tolerable. i thought how they told the hole story by just the colors at the very beginning was really cool. i can relate to the characters because i know how comfortable it is to be in your "safe zone" even though it might not make you happy. i like how she shows her regret for not waiting for Guy at the ending. some decisions have consequences you may not like after its all done and over with.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the story and the colors.
DeleteAshton Bowers:
ReplyDeleteI liked how the colors worked in this movie, i also liked the story of it but i realy hated how they sang the whole time, if it was normal talking and mabey a song every now and then i would like it a whole lot better.
What i got from french culture from this movie is that the family cares about who you marry, they dont want you marrying just some guy off the street, rather some rich person who seems nice. and im guessing that french culture is a culture of love.
Cool.
DeleteOkay, okay. I don't HATE this movie, but I really don't like it, or ever want to see it again. Maybe later in life, because maybe it will have a different meaning to it, but I don't plan on seeing it anytime soon. I loved the story, I LIKED the way they used colors, but in my opinion they used it WAY to much. I didn't like the singing, but that's probably cause I don't like musicals, and I understand this wasnt a musical, but I just don't like the singing all the time, it gets soooo annoying, and everyone above me said they could tolerate the singing just because it was french, but I couldn't even do that. It was just way to much to me, but the plot was great, the romance was great. It was just a bit too much for me.
ReplyDeleteThat's fair. I'm glad you dislike it less than before and that you are open to enjoying it more later in life.
Delete-Randi Michelle :3
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about this movie. I like the story line a lot and how it ends up twisting and not really ending the way you expect it, but the singing kinda was a little too much for me. It was like right on the line of being too much. The girl's singing voices made me tired and I ended up falling asleep a few times. I think the reason why I can actually tolerate it is because it's in French and not English, so it seems more majestic and beautiful to me, in a way. If it was in English, I'd be able to understand what they were saying, and it'd seem stupid to me. I'm not sure why, but it just would. However, it is a unique way to make a movie, so that's cool.
I liked Genevieve in the beginning, until she completely ditched Guy for Roland, just because she didn't know for sure if he'd return. At the same time though, I can understand why she did what she did. I mean, she did have a baby on the way, and her mother was going to die and she wasn't really financially prepared to have a kid. Still though, she seemed miserable in the last 10-15 minutes of the movie. Also, I didn't like how Guy didn't want to meet his daughter. Yeah, she's the daughter of his ex that completely left him for a richer guy, but she's still HIS DAUGHTER. Come on, that's just ridiculous.
Yeah, if they hadn't made this movie in this unique way then I don't think anyone would care about it enough to watch it. People watch it as the movie where everyone sings and then discover the great story and excellent use of color.
DeleteTayia Groesbeck-
ReplyDeleteWell I didn't really likr this movie all that much. I didn't like all the singing it really annoyed me. But I also agree with Randi I probably would have liked it a lot more if it was in english. I don't think it was a very good idea to make a movie were they sing the whole time. I liked the colors and stuff it went well with the film.
I felt bad when Geneviève got pregnant because she was really young and I don't think she knew what she wanted also I thought it was sad when the guy went to war i didn't like that they drifted apart. I thought it was messed up that her mom didn't let her be with who she wanted to be with.
So, do you want it to be spoken in English or sung in English? What if it were in French but not sung?
DeleteAlan Carrasco
ReplyDeleteI didn't really like this movie because of the singing that they had in the movie. The colors went very well with every scene that was in the movie. The music went also well with the colors as the colors changed so did the music. Depending on the mood of the scene the color and the music went well with each other.
I personally didn't relate with any of the characters i didn't like how they were overly dramatic with the events that were going on.
It didn't really connect with the French culture it's not clear to me i guess im going to have to watch it again.
Good observation about how the music changed with the color. Keep up the good work of looking for these kinds of things in the films we watch and commenting on them here on the blog!
DeleteI loved this film. I love how they sang everything. I think the main reason I liked the singing so much was because the whole time I was watching, all I could think was, "That never would have worked if the film was in English. Because it's French, it works." Plus, I think French is such a pretty language. I like how the colors were really vibrant and beautiful in the beginning, but dimmed down to soft shades of blue in the end to show sorrow. I like how the stiff guy Genevieve ends up marrying was always wearing neutrals when he was on camera and how, in the end, after marrying him she ends up wearing neutrals as well. Just black and white. Stiff and stuffy, power and money, but hardly any personality.
ReplyDeleteI think I can relate to Genevieve a bit. Not in many ways, because when she ran off after her mom told her no, I thought, "If I did that to my mom, I'd get one hell of a grounding and I'd probably be put on house arrest! Not allowed to leave the house for a long, long time." But I do understand how she was naive, wanted freedom, space, and wanted to be with Guy despite the age difference. I don't think she ever really loved him. I think he was just around to fill the void. When she stopped getting letters from him, she started seeing the other man. And she gave up on Guy long before she should have. I believe he really did love her and he would have waited for her, but she was impatient and still a child, just as her mother had told her. She knew nothing about pregnancy, nothing about marriage, she was naive and rushed into things too quickly and ended up being unhappy in the end. If she had waited, like Guy had, she would be happy like he was in the end.
I like your assertion that Genevieve never really loved Guy and the way that you back it up by pointing out things she did. I always assumed that she did love him but after reading your argument, I am becoming convinced that you might be right.
Deletetommy kiter
ReplyDeleteI didnt like all of the singing it annoyed me but the colors went all well with each other. The main reason i didnt is it was weird i dont know i just didnt like it.
I dont think i can really relate to any of the characters in the film like allan said how they were all dramatic over events that were happening.
I couldnt really relate to the film culture i dont see how i could relate to it.
I think i could've liked it alot more like randi said if it was in english because i get annoyed when i always have to read what it says on the screen it would make more sense if i would actually know what it was saying.
Opinion noted. I appreciate your strong expression of how you really feel.
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