The Young Girls of Rochefort
Up next in our series of movies that inspired or are referenced by “La La Land,” is “The Young Girls of Rochefort” Jacques Demy’s bubbly musical from 1967. Its influence on “La La Land” can easily be seen in its jazzy score as well as its light and airy dance numbers. Let’s take a closer look.
“The Young Girls of Rochefort” is Jacques Demy’s follow-up to “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” and it has quite a bit in common with its predecessor. It’s a musical, backed by a jazzy Michel Legrand score. It’s filled with bright colors. It’s at least partially about the minutiae of daily life of a group of people. The production is limited to the titular city. But where “Cherbourg” ends up being half happy-ending, half tragedy, “Rochefort” is incredibly light, almost to a fault, and the characters all basically find what (or who) they’re looking for in the end.
It’s hard to point to a lead in the film. There are many different factions, and they all converge in the French coastal town of Rochefort for a weekend when a fair will be taking place in the town square. There’s Delphine and Solange, a pair of sisters longing to make a splash as entertainers in Paris. Their mother, Yvonne, works at a bar/fry stand on the square and longs for the fiancee she left ten years ago. There’s Maxence, a painter about to be discharged from the French navy, who’s searching for his “feminine ideal.” Two carnies, Etienne and Bill are in for the fair and make everyone’s acquaintance. (By the way, these two are about 1,000 times more charming that what a modern American might think of when they hear the word “carnies.” This is despite the way they tuck their pants into their white boots. Oof.) Oh, and there’s a kid named Boubou.
I spent parts of the run time wondering exactly where all of this was going. After a few meet-cutes and narrow missed connections though, it became clear that most of the characters were destined to be introduced to one another by the end, but the movie feels a bit deliberate in getting them there. 20–30 minutes could probably have been cut and you wouldn’t have missed them much. In particular, the Etienne and Bill characters don’t add a whole lot to the story overall, other than being a sort of through line or witness to the action elsewhere in the movie. Or to participate in the dance numbers, of course.
Speaking of, the choreographed musical numbers are the thing that elevates this above being a quirky slice of life. This was supposedly Demy’s homage to the MGM musicals of classic Hollywood, and Gene Kelly even makes an appearance, lending a distinctly American charm to an otherwise nearly all-French production. While the music and dancing in “Rochefort” are often dazzling, most of the numbers don’t move the plot in any way, unlike many of the American musicals to which he’s paying tribute. But to me, that’s not a point of criticism, it’s just Demy putting his stamp on an homage, something that all the greats are able to do in a skillful but subtle fashion. The dances are impressively choreographed and staged, as Demy presents many of them as long tracking shots. They are a joy to witness.
The music itself is also the obvious connection point to “La La Land.” I’ve read that between this and “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” this is the movie that is the more direct influence on “La La Land.” In terms of story, I would disagree. In terms of music, however, that is definitely the case. The music in “Rochefort” is light and jazzy, and mirrors many of the upbeat tunes in “La La.” But listen closely to the score, and you’ll hear more melancholy snippets that sound a lot like the foundation of “Mia & Sebastian’s Theme.” It’s obvious that Damien Chazelle and Justin Hurwitz drew heavily from the collaborations between Demy and Michel Legrand. A smart move, because their work in these two pictures is timeless.
While the ending here was a nice contrast to the finale of “Cherbourg,” I found myself wondering if the more satisfying finish would have had all of these people just missing each other at the end of the story. You know, one of those stories that illustrates how life can change drastically if things don’t line up just right. But then I realize that is exactly what the “Cherbourg” is trying to illustrate, and that “Rochefort” is a fundamentally more positive picture. “Cherbourg” landed with me more on an emotional level, and of this double feature, I preferred it. But “Rochefort” does have an undeniable charm and I’d definitely recommend it to any fan of movie musicals and/or of the French New Wave.
