Les Demoiselles de Rochefort
I have an unashamed soft spot for the film Les Demoiselles de Rochefort from 1967 featuring Catherine Deneuve and her elder sister Francoise Dorleac who died that same year in a car crash at the age of 25.
It’s also got Gene Kelly, plus George Chakiris from West Side Story, and a roll-call of French film stars. It’s the original context for the song You Must Believe in Spring. Sometimes you just need two hours of an escapist song -and-dance routine. The film is West Side Story-meets-Summer Holiday in pastel shades.
It has a wonderful jazz score. But to show how the musician can be made totally invisible, just get with this quote from a review of the DVD of the film in The Guardian
“Demy [director of the film] seems to pull the musical numbers out of thin air, with whatever and whoever is around.”
Yeah right. “Thin air.” in this context Thin Air is in fact a composer who has* : –
“-composed more than two hundred film and television scores, several musicals, and made well over a hundred albums
“- won three Oscars (out of 13 nominations), five Grammys, and been nominated for an Emmy.”
That composer is Michel Legrand. But his show at the Shaw Theatre this Thursday 12th and Friday an Saturday with a Big Band and 80’s pop singer Alison Moyet won’t make it into my recommended list because of the price:
according to the Shaw Theatre Website it will cost £60 for a normal seat , or £75 with champagne and to meet him.
So just enjoy the taste of 60’s saccharine, and a great song!
(*source: Wikipedia)
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When does the remake with Jamie Cullum come out?
I was wondering if someone would spot the similrity with Geoff Gascoyne….