Film review

Just like Demy’s Cherbourg, Baltzar's Helsinki is depicted as a seaside town suffused with poetry and expectations of romantic encounters. Its raining in Helsinki too and colourful umbrellas open up above the lovers. Cherbourg is, of course, smaller and rural, but Helsinki does not seem like the center of the universe either. Demy’s movie was a bold experiment in film design: painted sets, play with sharp colors, a combination of natural life that the new wave directors loved and stylized glamor - all this was new then. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg gave a huge boost to cinematography development. The impact is seen in the films of many of the best directors of our time, from Pedro Almodovar to Damien Chazelle.

The most famous of Finnish directors, Aki Kaurismäki, who confessed his love for the beauty of France in “Bohemian Life”, filmed in Paris, is among those who did not pass by Demy’s discoveries. As a romantic tribute to the legendary country, the country of dreams, Baltzar invites Marja Packalén, an actress also known from Kaurismäki’s films, to play a ragged beggar and to sing a playful song about Montmartre. The main merit of the film is, however, that it does not copy French models, but creates a pictorial landscape and costume style based on recognized national achievements - the ecological design of Yrjö Kukkapuro and Marimekko. As for music (the film is not an opera, but partly a musical), it also has Finnish roots: the eclectic soundtrack is based on Heikki Sarmanto’s songs and jazz compositions.

The plot of the new film, albeit on a general level, reproduces the plot of the Demy film known by all, but with an important difference. The tear between the lovers of the Umbrellas of Cherbourg began with the Algerian war to which Guy was sent and this fact created the space for the film’s melodrama at a historic time. In the Café of My Memories, there is no sign of war, but a peaceful life is not always as sweet. Philippe falls victim to slander and intrigue at the high school where he teaches, which is characteristic of the “new ethics” era, and he doesn’t endure the stress in the end. The film thus shows how the cold realities of our time destroy people’s feelings and relationships, even without outright violence. The most touching and funniest part of the picture is shown in Cherbourg, where Philippe travels with his Finnish colleagues - teachers who are fans of the Umbrellas of Cherbourg. They settle in a hotel that once housed Jacques Demy and the film’s leading characters - Nino Castelnuovo and Catherine Deneuve, who became the symbol of France, during the filming of the famous film.

Film review by Ivan Kalishevich