The modernist film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and the post-modernist film La La Land (2016) demythologize the romantic musical genre by separating the once infatuated romantic leads of each respective film in order to refute the genre’s idealistic myth that achieving one’s dreams always occurs perfectly with the lover they originally shared them with. Both films use melodically choreographed conventions and vibrantly colored iconography in order to paint fantastic, and ironic interpretations of the classic Hollywood musical, subverting the genre’s utopian expectations which can no longer be considered realistic from the modernist era forward. However, La La Land demythologized the romantic musical genre to an even greater degree by neglecting to explain why the romantic leads separated, only illustrating that they did, which normalizes the notion of lovers separating as a regular function of life that does not require a sudden intervention like the Algerian war in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Therefore, as demonstrated by the two films, the romantic musical genre from modernism to post-modernism exhibits a trend further away from its magical whimsies of love and toward the harsh, commonplace realities of faltering romantic relationships more representative of modern-day culture.
The romantic musical genre characteristically employs larger than life expectations of society through the weaving of song with story. According to Oxford University Press, “in Hollywood, harmony is a deeply expressive resource, able to conjure magical worlds and plant utopic expectations” (Lehman 4). In The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and La La Land, these magical worlds and utopic expectations of the genre can be microcosmically analyzed through the two films’ myths, iconography, and conventions. The myths depict Cherbourg and Los Angeles as lands of dreams and soulmate love where chance and happenstance determine the order of the world. Both films portray periods in the lovers’ lives where everything is perfect for the two of them, the beginning in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and the summer sequence in La La Land. In these initial rose-tinted sections, love and dreams go hand in hand, which does not end up holding true by the end of the films.
The myths of the romantic musical genre also favor chance and happenstance over causality. In The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Guy and Genevieve get torn apart due to Guy’s unexpected military conscription to Algeria, as opposed to a direct and causal shift internally within their relationship. In La La Land, Mia and Sebastian see each other in traffic, in a restaurant, and then at a party—all unrelated events. They even verbally comment that it is strange they keep unexpectedly meeting each other in different places before their “A Lovely Night” performance. Such fortuitous and serendipitous encounters exemplify the suspension of realism in the romantic musical genre. Moreover, realism is further suspended by the conventions of regular song and dance numbers and the iconography of vibrant scenery and set pieces. According to The Guardian, “saturated primary colours” and “enchanting pastel, candy-striped rooms” brighten the environments of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Cox). Relatedly, French Forum comments that “color works like a charm that serves to subtly distance everyday reality” in the film (Henneton). Distance from everyday reality is fantastically apparent in both romantic musicals. These details showcase that extravagant conventions and iconography work in service of the films and more broadly, the genre. However, both films later take sharp turns toward stark realism, diverging from the myths of the whimsical genre they originally upheld.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and La La Land both blur the line between fantasy and tragedy. According to Quarterly Review of Film and Video, regarding The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, “Demy turns a bittersweet (romantic and sad) lower-middle-class love story into an all-singing, pastel-colored spectacle” (Shaviro 11). Likewise, according to London: Routledge, La La Land similarly functions “as a bittersweet film full of nostalgia and an ambivalent (non-)happy ending” (Rodosthenous 230). The merging of fantasy with tragedy creates a thematic dichotomy and a clashing of ideals with reality. This merging leads to the crossroads where the films eventually diverge from the genre they originally assimilated to.
In many ways, La La Land notably utilizes pastiche to recall, but not add meaning to, the classic Hollywood musical through references like the stylized title, transition, and ending cards and the Rebel Without A Cause (1955) Griffith Observatory scene. London: Routledge describes this pastiche as a “puzzle of intertextual references and a homage to the MGM post-war golden era” (Rodosthenous 230). These intertextual references draw parallels between La La Land and older films like The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Where The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and La La Land differ, however, is the extent to which they demythologize the romantic musical genre within their respective modernist and post modernist historical contexts.
In discussing the evolution of the romantic musical genre from modernism to post-modernism as seen through the two films, it is important to note that Damien Chazelle, the director of La La Land, took inspiration from the older French film. According to The Guardian, he describes his film as a “crypto-remake of Jacques Demy’s entirely sung-through phenomenon” referring to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. While this may be true in substantial capacity, there are some notable deviations of the post-modernist film from the modernist film that demonstrate how the genre works across time in an ever-changing culture.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg fully elucidates why Guy and Genevieve grow apart and eventually end up with different romantic partners, whereas La La Land leaves the exact reason for Mia and Sebastian’s separation ambiguous and open to interpretation. For Guy and Genevieve, their relationship becomes strained when Guy gets drafted for the military and is forced to leave Genevieve alone. Through song at the train station, Genevieve expresses that she will wait faithfully for him to return, all the while feeling melancholic heartbreak. Afterwards, however, the irregularity of Guy’s letters, her unexpected pregnancy, and financial turmoil exacerbate Genevieve’s broken mental state and dependency. She eventually resorts to marrying Roland Cassard because of his gentlemanly decency and financial stability. Guy and Genevieve’s failed relationship can serve as a testament to how love is not perfect and cannot conquer all, the antithesis of the romantic musical genre’s idealistic myths. The film exhibits an explicit and progressive arc for the two lovers that follows every step of their relationship’s decline, demythologizing the genre and subverting its expectations, but to a lesser degree than La La Land does. In the 1960s, films that untraditionally deviated from their genre likely necessitated clear cut explanations to appease the unsuspecting audience. During this era, romantic musical films like Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) classically upheld perfect endings for romantic leads (Edwards). They conformed to audiences’ idealistic expectations. On the other hand, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg takes a different direction with an untraditional outcome. No matter which way the modernist film is sliced in interpretation, the audience fully understands that Guy and Genevieve go their separate ways and why they decide to do so.
In contrast, La La Land time skips from Mia and Sebastian taking a temporary pause on their relationship to five years later when Mia is now with another man. The lovers say “I’m always gonna love you” to each other in their final goodbye exchange until they meet again on their bifurcating career and personal paths (Chazelle). Mia takes
her acting job in Paris and skyrockets to fame, starting a family with a new man in the process. Sebastian successfully opens his jazz club and names it Seb’s in the same logo that Mia designed for him. Five years later, they meet again, but the audience is left in the dark as to exactly why they never ended up together. This begs the question: Do failed romantic relationships need explicit and viable explanations? In the case of La La Land, the film answers that they do not; lovers separating is a regular function of life. The modern-day audience of the 21st century predominantly understands this implied reality, creating alignment between the film’s subject matter and the contemporary culture consuming it. Thus, the post-modernist La La Land demonstrates an even greater diversion from the quixotic romantic musical genre, more so than what was artfully pioneered in the modernist The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Over time, the genre moves further away from its original myths of idyllic and picturesque romance, but it keeps its characteristic roots in melodic conventions and vibrant iconography.
The epilogue scene of La La Land gives a glimpse into what Mia and Sebastian’s life together could have been like, allowing the audience a taste of the ending it wants before retracting it completely. In it, extravagant dance numbers, an ethereal waltz, and family home videos all satisfy the expected perfect ending of the romantic musical genre. However, by overriding this possibility, La La Land affirms that such a happy ending does not have to necessarily happen, a final and ultimate demythologization of the genre. Audiences in the 21st century understand this reality, with other modern romantic films like (500) Days of Summer (2009) taking similar stances on the imperfections of love and challenging the very notion of a soulmate (Tuchinsky and Filardi). As such, the romantic musical genre closely follows the historical contexts that its films situate themselves in throughout time.
In both films, it is worth noting that all of the romantic leads end up achieving their dreams, just not with the lovers they originally shared them with. Guy opens his gas station, and Sebastian opens his jazz club. Genevieve becomes financially well-off, and Mia becomes a successful actress. When Guy meets Genevieve and Sebastian meets Mia at the end of their respective films, they are neither happy nor sad for themselves and their former lover. They are simply contemplative of the time they did share together and the indelible impact they had on each other’s lives. These outcomes maintain an element of hope, however bittersweet, for both films to leave their audiences with. The films bring a sense of closure, despite the imperfect way things ended for the couples. Perhaps that is one underlying beauty of the two reality-encapsulating romantic musicals emblematic of their genre’s evolution over time.
The romantic musical genre from modernism to post-modernism reflects the cultural changes of the societies consuming it. In the 1960s, romantic films classically upheld perfect endings, so those that deviated likely required explicit explanations for audiences that did not expect other outcomes. In contrast, audiences nowadays largely view romantic musicals differently with the context of non-happy endings being regularly employed. Both the genre and society grow to understand that love is nuanced and imperfect—a notion taken as it is, being neither necessarily good nor bad but representative of reality, nonetheless. This cultural shift in the filmic genre extends beyond solely cinema into how societal outlooks on topics like romance ultimately change over time as well.
Works Cited
Chazelle, Damien. La La Land. Lionsgate, 2016.
Cox, David. “A Little Rain Must Fall: The Tragic Secret of a Musical Movie Masterpiece.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 27 Nov. 2019, www.theguardian.com/film/2019/nov/27/the-umbrellas-of-cherbourg-jacques demy-catherine-deneuve.
Demy, Jacques. Les Parapluies De Cherbourg. 20th Century Fox, 1964. Edwards, Blake, director. Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Paramount Pictures, 1961. Henneton, Diane. “Jacques Demy’s musical comedies: an homage to the American show
musical.” French Forum, vol. 37, no. 3, 2012, p. 221+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A329732137/AONE?u=usocal_main&sid=AONE &xid=795d86a1. Accessed 29 Oct. 2020.
Lehman, Frank. “Hollywood Harmony: Musical Wonder and the Sound of Cinema.” Hollywood Harmony, Oxford University Press, 2018,
doi:10.1093/oso/9780190606398.001.0001.
Rodosthenous, George. “Twenty-First Century Musicals.” London: Routledge, 2018, https://doi-org.libproxy1.usc.edu/10.4324/9781315626123. Shaviro, Steven. “Clichés of Identity: Chantal Akerman’s Musicals.” Quarterly Review of Film and Video, vol. 24, no. 1, p. 11-17, 2007, doi: 10.1080/10509200500485975. Tuchinsky, Jessica, and Jason Filardi. (500) Days of Summer. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2009.
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