Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Umbrellas v. Top Hats
One way to look at the Umbrellas of Cherbourg is as a radical revisioning of the tradition of the Hollywood musical. In what ways does it changes stylistically from such films as Top Hat? How does it change thematically? Are their visions of love similar or dramatically different? Are Guy and Genevieve "In Heaven" in the same ways as Jerry and Dale?
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Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a much more realistic musical than a traditional Hollywood musical like Top Hat, showing a more relatable love vision. Guy and Genevieve, two working class young people living in Cherbourg, is much more similar to the audience members than Jerry, a dancer traveling the globe to perform, and Dale, a rich young woman also travelling across Europe. The love story in Umbrellas of Cherbourg is also much more lifelike. The two are not “In Heaven” for most of the film. Guy and Genevieve have an intense relationship in their adolescent years, eventually being separated by Guy’s call to war. Their love story ends unhappily since both of the characters end up with other people. In Top Hat, Jerry and Dale have so many miscommunications, yet are more in love than ever when they wind up together by the end of the film. The realism is not limited to the plot of the film, but also to the film’s location shooting. For example, Top Hat has an elaborate set of Venice, Italy. It is clearly a fake set with intricate white decorations in the background, discolored water, and numerous gondolas. This adds to the stylized feel of traditional Hollywood musicals like Fred Astaire’s Top Hat. In Umbrellas of Cherbourg, there are not as many sets as a Top Hat. When Guy leaves for war on the train, he and Genevieve are actually at a train station. Overall, the French New Wave has a bigger emphasis on reality, especially the reality in love, than the traditional Hollywood films at the time.
ReplyDeleteThe French new wave in cinema created a new up-beat style that changed traditional values of movies. Before, in the Hollywood era, movies all contained goals (romantic and/or career), a deadline to achieve those goals, and closure. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg by Jacques Demy altered the way traditional musicals like Top Hat were created. Stylistically, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg transformed musicals to be quicker paced with more rapid transitions. Scenes were shorter, or at least felt shorter in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg than Top Hat because more was happening. For example, I enjoyed the transitions with the date in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg since it creates a timeline quickly. We see the progression and change of the characters such as Genevieve quicker since more rising actions happen.
ReplyDeleteTop Hat is a traditional Hollywood movie in the sense that it meets all three criteria checkpoints. Oppositely, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg meet none of the three elements that make a Hollywood film. The greatest difference between the movies is that The Umbrellas of Cherbourg replicate real life more accurately than Top Hat which seems like a dream or someone’s fantasy. An example of this is the city Vienna in Top Hat. It obviously looks staged and most certainly does not look anything like the city of Vienna, whereas in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg the scenery and city of Cherbourg looks like a real city. Additionally, this movie doesn’t really have closure. I know some people in our class thought it was a sad movie because the supporting characters die and Guy and Genevieve never end up together. I believe that it was a happy ending since they both have children, family, and money. Without closure, precise goals, and change in style, the French new wave transformed Hollywood musicals to a new era, one which is more exciting.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg differed from the traditional Hollywood musical in its style and plot. The fact that the characters sang every line but didn’t dance changed the viewing experience tremendously. In Top Hat, the singing and dancing scenes, of which there were five, were reprieves from the story line. They were fun, and demonstrated a vast amount of talent, but were fluff in terms of the story. Umbrellas of Cherbourg is very different because the plot is imbedded in song. Virtually all of the information, besides that gathered from body language, was learned through song. Stylisticly, Umbrellas of Cherbourg had more camera movement, some of which was very unique, such as the scene where Genevieve and Guy were floating, and it filmed on location rather than in sets. It also utilized bright colors, such as the rooms in Genevieve’s house, which had the effect of heightening your awareness white watching. Another key difference between French New wave musicals and Hollywood musicals, based on the example of each we have seen, is the depiction of love. Hollywood musicals seem to view love as having a magical power that can overcome any obstacle. Jerry and Dale had a multitude of problems between them arising from their miscommunications, but their love ultimately persevered. This is not necessarily realistic because often times when there is a communication breakdown, it can becomes impassible, and love cannot always be the solution. Genevieve and Guy are in love as well, but love is not the miracle drug like it was in Top Hat. Instead, real life issues have the ability to unravel love like it’s nothing more than a spool of thread. This is true in real life, so it makes sense that it happen in movies. With the combined differences in style as well as depiction of love, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg succeeded in making a more relatable and realistic movie, despite the fact that the constant singing was the antithesis of relatable and realistic.
ReplyDeleteOne main difference between Top Hat and Umbrellas of Cherbourg is that Top Hat uses dancing to tell the story whereas Umbrellas of Cherbourg uses singing. By singing throughout the entire movie, it sometimes made it difficult to decipher the characters emotions. In the traditional Hollywood musicals, singing and dancing is used to help exemplify the emotions of the characters, while in Umbrellas of Cherbourg the singing was just something extra that made the movie less appealing. Overall though, I would say Umbrellas of Cherbourg still has some elements of a traditional Hollywood musical. As for how Guy and Genevieve compare to Jerry and Dale, I think they are in similar situations. In both situations when the two characters are together they seem to forget about everything else in the world. The only thing that matters to them is each other. For both couples, they believed that love could conquer all and that they would be able to make it through anything life would throw at them. Then when both couples had to face obstacles, for Guy and Genevieve the obstacles were too much to overcome. So, even though the two couples ended up with different outcomes, they still had similar situations and similar visions of love. Even though Top Hat and Umbrellas of Cherbourg use two very different styles to tell a story, they both still have characters with a goal in mind and a deadline. In Top Hat the main character is able to reach his goal within the time given. Whereas in Umbrellas of Cherbourg, the main character was unable to reach his goal within the movie. So, although there may be some major differences between the two movies, they both have elements of the traditional Hollywood musical within them.
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ReplyDeleteUmbrellas of Cherbourg is most definitely a radical revision of the traditional Hollywood musical. Although both movies are musicals, the French New Wave adopted a more realistic approach than in the movie Top Hat. When looking at the movies as a whole, Top Hat concludes with the usual format of a Hollywood love story where the two main characters fall in love. Of course before the love story ends there are always dramatic or comedic aspects to the movie where the relationship between both lovers is unclear and we don’t know what will happen to the couple. However in Umbrellas of Cherbourg we begin to see a deviation from tradition. It seems like the usual Hollywood musical at first but surprisingly ends much more differently than the audience would have imagined. The couple does not end up together. Guy and Genevieve’s love story is much more realistic. Guy having been gone for 2 years and Genevieve being pregnant, take a realistic approach to their situation as their relationship takes a turn. Realistically it would have been hard for them to return to the same point in their relationship where they left off. In contrast the ending of Top Hat is drastically different where it is evident that both characters are “in heaven”. I believe that throughout both movies the characters were both “in heaven” in different ways. In Top Hat Jerry and Dale are in love and wind up together while in Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Guy and Genevieve are in love but get separated by real life obligations. Many of the scenes in Top Hat are also very staged in the grand Hollywood tradition which is odd since it is filmed in Venice, and not really believable, compared to Umbrellas of Cherbourg where the scenes are much more realistic as in train stop or the scene of Genevieve and her mother’s boutique. Overall Umbrellas of Cherbourg’s realistic components and approach are much more appealing to the viewer as they can understand and relate to the plot in more empathetic ways.