Tuesday, May 11, 2010

umbrellas, windmills...

Sunday's visit to the BFI to see Agnès Varda's "New Wave classic" "Cléo de 5 à 7" reminded me again how many great songs in French films of the sixties were written by Michel Legrand. He was a hugely prolific film composer around this time--I seem to vaguely remember that he was even one of Parky's chat show regulars in his own pre-Bublé heyday.

Legrand actually has quite an impressive jazz pedigree, having briefly collaborated with Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Bill Evans in the 1950s, but it's for his film music that he's best known. In the mid sixties, he composed scores for a number of films directed by Varda's husband Jacques Demy, most notably "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg" starring Catherine Deneuve. The film's "sung-through" dialogue might not be to everyone's taste, but any sucker for big tunes with sweeping melodies (don't think I'm on my own here) ought to have a soft spot for "I Will Wait For You"...



...Just when you think you're at full tilt another soaring key change shifts you again up yet another gear. (The song returns dramatically in the final scene. I suppose you could just click on the YouTube link to view this one clip, but it's much more worthwhile working your way up to it through the rest of the film.)

By the time "Les Parapluies" appeared in 1964, Legrand had already scored nearly thirty French films including "Cléo de 5 à 7" in which he also makes more than a cameo appearance. (Corinne Marchand's performance of "Sans Toi" is worth a listen too). Deneuve's starring role, the tragically romantic storyline, the impressive photography, as well as Legrand's score, all helped to win "Les Parapluies" an amount of international success and an Oscar nomination. The resulting flood of offers from Hollywood kept Legrand in filmscore work until as late as 1995.

Although I'd argue that it didn't quite hit the peaks of his early scores for the likes of Demy and Varda, his Hollywood output did have some high points, like Noel (Son of Rex) Harrison's only hit record, from the 1968 film "The Thomas Crown Affair". This is Michel's own "version française"...

4 comments:

Cocktails said...

Oh, I do like Michel Legrand too. In fact, just the other week I was thinking I should get one of his tunes up on the site.

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg is one of my favourite movies, I can never see it too many times. I particularly like the jazzy track at the beginning during the garage scene. Have you seen the follow-up les Desmoiselles de Rochefort? It's not as good but still has some nifty tunes.

Really must watch Cléo de 5 à 7 again too...

Hoops Hooley said...

Hello Cocktails. Good to hear from you.

Yes, I have seen les Demoiselles de Rochefort too. I remember having a bit of a Jacques Demy binge when there was a BFI season of his stuff a couple of years ago. I seem to remember being a bit disappointed by it to be honest. Some good tunes though I dare say. La Baie des Anges is another good Demy one. Les Parapluies is definitely the best though, no question.

Wanderer said...

Not seen this but inspired to do so now!

Hoops Hooley said...

Hope you enjoy if you do. As I say I'm not sure if the totally sung dialogue is everyone's cup of tea, but let me know how you get on anyway...