Movies

The Class Tension of ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’

The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg
By  · Published on December 20th, 2017

Money transcends all barriers.

Director Jacques Demy‘s 1964 musical masterpiece The Umbrellas of Cherbourg won the Palme d’Or and countless hearts with its romantic post-war realism. Although it focuses on the plights of everyday life, it also coagulates larger themes about what it means to exist in an imbalanced economy.

Carlos Valladares’ video essay about the class struggles inherent in the film’s plot explains it through differences in props, costumes, and colors.

These are the barriers between realms of income and the ridiculously different lifestyles they encase. Understanding these deeper concerns about establishing a new peaceful normal after World War II, especially in France, makes the bittersweet film all the more historically impactful.

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Jacob Oller writes everywhere (Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Playboy, FSR, Paste, etc.) about everything that matters (film, TV, video games, memes, life).