Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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64 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Buy a different dvd release of this must see movie!, 8 Nov 2005
My earliest memories include listening to a badly recorded audio tape with a few tracks of this movie's soundtrack on it. I listened to that old tape over and over and over...This movie is a wonderful, very unique and unconventional musical, and in the DVD transfer the sound quality is as important as the quality of the picture. There are three DVD releases of Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) out at the moment. I have a copy of each. I also have the soundtrack on CD. The French version (from www.amazon.fr) of the DVD has by far the best image quality, but rather harsh (though correct pitch) sound. The US version (amazon.com) has inferior picture but has a more listenable soundtrack. The brand new UK (Optimum) version that this review is about essentially appears to be a straightforward (crude) PAL conversion of the US NTSC release. There is no discernable difference in picture quality between the two releases, and the sound of the UK version is simply sped up, so the pitch is a semitone too high. The pitch shift is very obvious, especially if one is familiar with the original soundtrack. This is inexcusable, when it is so easy to achieve the PAL speedup (using rather basic sound processing software) without shifting pitch. The higher pitch of this release takes away the sweetness of the female voice and the warmth of the male vocals. I would advise against purchasing this release of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. I would recommend getting either the US release which has the best sound of all three, or the French release, which has the best picture (and, despite being PAL, correct pitch sound).
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More 'Evita' than 'Grease', beautiful and powerful., 6 Feb 2006
(Read the synopsis of the film above)
Having never seen a Jacque Demy film before, or a French Musical, I had no idea what to expect, and bought this after seeing an interview with Catherine Deneuve on UK TV, where the presenter, Jonathan Ross, gave it glowing reviews. It certainly is a beautiful film, the use of colour is stunning, the direction beautiful, and brilliantly performed by all the actors. As for the music, the film is sung from start to finish, not a single spoken word, and it works well, the actors lip synching perfect. The film is in 3 specific sections; (I don’t want to give too much away) the before, the absence and the return, and what I particularly liked about this film, is that it may be a musical, but it still has a powerful emotional punch, not a light ‘Hollywood’ theme. This isn’t ‘Grease’, this is more ‘Evita’ in that it is a film dealing with serious issues; unwanted pregnancy, parental pressure, death, war and more. The final scene was perfectly realised, and brought a tear to my eye.
The extras: Knowing nothing about Jacque Demy, the 90 documentary on his life and films is fascinating, and an excellent introduction into how he works and his love of film. It was great to see rare footage of Jim Morrison and a pre-fame Harrison Ford pop up, amongst many stars (Catherine Deneuve for starters) lending their thoughts about this great filmmaker. Not only that, it has encouraged me to see more of his films, especially the musical ‘Donkey Skin’ which sounds and looks magical. There is also a beautiful short film (not directed by Demy) with music by Legrand (who did the music for Umbrellas and most of his other musicals) that is an interesting watch.
One of the comments below discusses the quality of this release – it was perfect as far as I could see, excellent sound and picture, however, I haven’t seen the other versions so I can’t comment.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A unique film, beautiful and tragic and delightful, 17 Oct 2005
This is cinema as it was meant to be - pure escapism. From the first notes of young innocent love to the final tragic encounter between a man and a woman destined for each other, "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg" is uplifting, sweet, sad, beautiful and devastating. If you can watch without in turn smiling and crying, you're missing out. The fact that every word is sung in French, to an absolutely enchanting film score, turns a sumptuous story into a work of art. Visually, the colours of the sets are a delight on the eye. And Catherine Deneuve is possibly the most exquisitely beautiful woman to have graced the cinema screen. This is one of the three films you'd take with you when you move to Mars.
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