Thoughts on The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

I cried the first time I saw this movie.

I rarely cry when I see movies.

I especially rarely cry whenever I see movies that are supposed to make me cry.

Yet this film managed to touch my heart in a way that so many recent musicals (yes, I'm looking at you, Moulin Rouge!, and I'm looking at you, too, Rent) have not.

I don't have the words to do this film justice.

Suffice it to say that this is the first film that made me realize why people made such a fuss about the young Catherine Deneuve.

Although the story is a simple one (a man and woman fall in love, then get separated by circumstance, only to meet up again after quite a long time), it is nevertheless a moving one.

And that ending. Alas, all too realistic and yet moving in a way that far more blatant tearjerkers can only dream of.

And the song Catherine's character sings to her boyfriend just before he goes off to war manages to be all so touching in any language.

Some things just don't need translation.