Please allow me to rave a bit

About the movie I saw today: The Young Girls of Rochefort (Original title: Les Demoiselles de Rochefort), from 1967. This film screened at Film Forum as part of a Jacques Demy retrospective, and the only thing I knew about Demy was that he made The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, which I watched on a whim in undergrad, and found interesting enough and unique, if a bit vacuous. Lots of singing, very colorful, vibrant sets and costumes, and the beautiful Catherine Deneuve at the height of her charms.

So, I figured I'd go see this other film by him, since I knew it also involved music and dancing and Catherine Deneuve and awesome 60's design.

But I didn't know how awesome it would be. The plot was still pretty darn pointless, don't get me wrong. But that didn't bother me--this is basically movie escapism at its finest.

First of all, the two main characters are two sisters, played by actual sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac. One of them teaches ballet, the other one composes music and teaches piano. And they play like 6 instruments TOTALLY realistically: 

That song in the YouTube video gives you an idea of what the rest of the movie is like. Sure, it's over 2 hours, which is a little on the long side. But there's dancing! 

And Gene Kelly's in it! Dancing! And being overdubbed speaking French! (He also happens to be 30 years older than his love interest in the story, but...it was a different time?)

And randomly, the guy who played Bernardo in West Side Story (George Chakiris) is also in the movie, also dancing and ALSO overdubbed speaking French!  (He's the guy in the orange shirt.)

And everyone's singing is overdubbed! Hooray! 

But seriously, if this kind of movie doesn't drive you crazy with its saccharine ridiculousness, you will love it. Rent it. Or see it on the big screen if you can!

And BONUS if you want to watch another awesomely retro dance scene: