Firstly: this isn't a musical like 'Cherbourg'. It has only a few themes, each belonging to certain people - and you can quickly find out, that people who belong together sing the same tune, only with different words. Which is a charming idea and won me over. And it isn't the kind of fairytale that many Demy's films are. The people move about in a realistic place, doing things that at least remind things that happen in reality, but wearing things that make them and the dancers - who walk by casually and start and stop dancing absent-mindedly - stand out of others. There are very few big dancing scenes here. Even though Gene Kelly is in the cast.
The cast is great: Danielle Darrieux, Francoise Dorleac, Catherine Deneuve, George Charikis, Michel Piccoli, Gene Kelly and Jacques Perrin - with his hair blonde, wearing a sailor costume that looks like the ones little boys wear. They all seem to fit in this story that has nothing to do with real life, just happens in real surroundings. The pastel coloured clothes, the way people move without finding each other, unexpected, haphazard dancers on the streets... Apparently Demy had fun lending musical-like features while still trying to do something else. Deneuve, Dorleac and Darrieux are lovely, of course, the men are all handsome and charming (Charikis should be sold in bottles!) and the music is lovely. This time Legrand made recognizable songs, each belonging to certain people.
The plot? There isn't much to tell about. Two lovely girls, musically talented, are looking for love and a better future, their mother keeps a cafe and remembers the love of her life she rejected because the man had a silly name. The fare brings new people to Rochefort and the girls get a chance to leave, maybe to Paris. But men keep crossing their path...
Oh yes, I love this film. Even though I don't care for musicals that much. Or pure romantic soap. There is something disarming in this one, though it's useless to find great big truths of life or magnificent singers. Perhaps that's what is so charming: these people can hold a tune and dance a bit, but they aren't so good you couldn't do the same thing yourself - if you had the balls to take a few steps or to sing a nice tune as you walk down the street and feel like it.
I suppose I finally fell for this film in the end, when one of the main characters is leaving alone, then gets up on a truck and the theme grows stronger and bigger than ever. The lovers meet, though it isn't shown. And by the way: in my mind it's one of the best themes Legrand ever composed. Enjoy!
