The secret power of is that it is a dangerous film. It asks you to lower your defenses. It asks you to believe that a stranger painting your portrait in a square might actually be your soulmate. The Criterion Collection has rescued this fragile miracle from the vinegar syndrome of decaying film stock.
The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967): A Pastel Paradise in the Criterion Collection
Demy was a Francophile who loved America. He adored Gene Kelly, Vincente Minnelli, and Stanley Donen. So, for Rochefort , he did the unthinkable: He flew Gene Kelly to France to play Andy Miller, a cynical American pianist who becomes Solange’s mentor. The Young Girls of Rochefort -1967- Criterion -...
Jacques Demy’s 1967 masterpiece, The Young Girls of Rochefort (French: Les Demoiselles de Rochefort ), stands as one of the most vibrant and joyous entries in the Criterion Collection . A cinematic "effervescent confection," this film followed Demy’s heartbreaking The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) with a shift toward sun-drenched optimism, jazz-infused choreography, and a pastel-painted world where love is always just around the corner. A Symphony of Missed Connections
On its surface, The Young Girls of Rochefort is simple. Twin sisters Delphine (Catherine Deneuve) and Solange (Françoise Dorléac) live in the sleepy port town of Rochefort. They teach music and dance, dreaming of escaping to Paris to find love and artistic success. Meanwhile, a American musician named Maxence (Jacques Perrin) has just been discharged from the army and is painting a portrait of his ideal woman in the town square. A traveling carnival showman, Guillaume (Michel Piccoli), and his former flame, Yvonne (Danielle Darrieux), run a nearby cafe. The secret power of is that it is a dangerous film
Deneuve, fresh off the success of Repulsion and Cherbourg , plays Delphine, a ballet teacher dreaming of a perfect love. Dorléac, her older sister, plays Solange, a jazz musician searching for her artistic soulmate. Their chemistry is effortless, a testament to their real-life bond. Tragically, Dorléac would pass away in a car accident shortly after the film’s release, adding a layer of heartbreaking poignancy to her radiant performance. Watching her dance in the town square, full of life and promise, remains one of cinema’s most bittersweet experiences.
Why
Because Rochefort is not a place. It is a state of mind. In Demy’s world, the characters live in an idealized 1967 where racial tension (there is a traveling black jazz band treated with absolute equality), queer identity (the subtle flirtations between the twins and a group of showgirls), and violence (the ax-murderer is caught off-screen) exist, but they do not win.