Though everyone remembers the youth and beauty of the stunning Catherine Deneuve in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (streaming on Hulu), it was her star-crossed lover Guy, played by the gorgeous Nino Castelnuovo who first caught my eye. Born Francesco Castelnuovo, he has mostly worked in Italian film and television, but his biggest role was here under the colorful eye of Jacques Demy.
It’s no wonder Genievieve (Deneuve) the ingenue umbrella salesgirl fell hard for him. With his beautiful Mediterranean complexion, that wry smile, the dark hair and those sweet sad eyes, I melted and instantly looked up all the films of his I could get my hands on (luckily for the lusty-hearted there is also a Radley Metzger skin flick, Camille 2000, among the sparsely available options from his filmography). War tragically intervenes to complicate their hopes for the future, and the directions of their paths take drastic turns (helped along by Genevieve’s selfish, manipulative mother workin her overtime to marry the rich diamond merchant who can solve mama’s money troubles).
When Michel Legrand’s heartbreaking main theme swells up as Guy the dream is carried away to war by the train, I cried just as much as the tearful Genievieve left behind at the station. If it were me, I would have continued waiting for him to return, and told my mom and her non-lucrative umbrella shop to shove it. But perhaps that wasn’t the realistic option. Realism is not the aesthetic order of the day in this film anyhow, and all for the better. Glory in the bold colors and cope with the operatic format where every line in the film is sung, even if reality creeps in to spoil young love.
About Author
