The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

Jacques Demy · 93 min · Letterboxd ↗

This simple romantic tragedy begins in 1957. Guy Foucher, a 20-year-old French auto mechanic, has fallen in love with 17-year-old Geneviève Emery, an employee in her widowed mother's chic but financially embattled umbrella shop. On the evening before Guy is to leave for a two-year tour of combat in Algeria, he and Geneviève make love. She becomes pregnant and must choose between waiting for Guy's return or accepting an offer of marriage from a wealthy diamond merchant.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg screens once in London: Prince Charles Cinema, Sunday 29 November at 20:35.