La La Land & the Umbrealls of Cherbourg

Spoiler Alert!!!



I just rewatched "Umbrellas" after seeing LaLa Land last week. I could see so many similarities in it. Same bright primary colors opening the movie. The theme music played throughout both. The leads both thought there could be more in life, even with each other only. Men get a job that takes them away, with little/less communication. Not there when women need them most. In the end, women have a rich life married to another (although I'd def say Mia in LalaLand is happy and Genevieve does not seem happy). Men are doing their own modest dream, that they dreamed having with their partner, along with an accidental meeting years later (5 in both?). I'm sure there are many more themes and cinematography that are similar, but those jumped out at me. Which is funny because they seem so different.

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"Cherbourg" is a much more dramatic movie than "La La Land" - and rightly so.

The story involves circumstances that are much, much more serious than anything in "La La Land". Plus, the setting of the film is a rainy seaside town.

I enjoyed "La La Land" but the attempt to mix star-crossed lovers with the sunny landscape of L.A. meant that the film did not have the same dramatic impact as "Cherbourg".

And then there's Michel Legrand's haunting score, which just serves to push all the poignant and tragic emotions over the top in "Cherbourg". The score for "La La Land" had some dramatic moments, but mostly it was light and show-tuney.

"Cherbourg" is more of an operetta, whereas "La La Land" - per the vision of Chazelle - also incorporates elements of classic MGM musicals; Gosling and Stone dancing in Griffith Park is a direct paean to Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse dancing in the "The Bandwagon". Unfortunately, Gosling did not exhibit any of the finesse of someone like Fred Astaire - while Stone did her best to dance a la Cyd Charisse (who was a superbly trained ballet dancer) but nevertheless fell well short.

I think with genuine Broadway-caliber actors, "La La Land" would have come off as a very different film. It's to their credit that Gosling and Stone nevertheless are appealing in their roles.

"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"

He even named his first feature on two characters from it , " Guy and Madeline on a park bench ".

Didn't the costume designer for "Lala Land" say she'd used the sixties French musicals as her inspiration?

The short dresses in bright primary colors, even the occasional scarf on the head sixties-style. Women used to put scarves over their huge bouffants to protect them from the breeze, nobody does that now.