Les Demoiselles De Rochefort 1967 Best Now

The answer will be yes. Les Demoiselles de Rochefort is not just a cult classic. It is a Technicolor cathedral of joy, loss, and rhythm. For the best experience, watch the original French with subtitles (the dubbing loses the breathy charm of Deneuve and Dorléac). It is, without question, the best musical the French New Wave ever produced, and arguably one of the top five musicals ever made.

The plot is a masterclass in dramatic irony. We, the audience, know exactly who everyone should be with. The sailor (Jacques Perrin) is looking for the blonde twin, Delphine. He walks past her ten times. Maxence the painter (Jacques Riberolles) has painted the face of his ideal woman—which happens to be Solange—but because the painting is abstracted, she doesn't recognize herself. les demoiselles de rochefort 1967 best

While Deneuve is the ice-cool blonde icon we remember from Belle de Jour and Repulsion , Dorléac is fire—a theatrical, ginger whirlwind of chaos and charm. Their chemistry is the axis upon which the film spins. Tragically, Dorléac died in a car accident just months after the film’s release. Watching Les Demoiselles today is a haunting, beautiful act of preservation. You are watching two real sisters laugh, argue, and dance together, unaware that their celluloid partnership would be severed so soon. The answer will be yes

This was not a cameo. Kelly dances a full, spectacular routine in a café that rivals Singin’ in the Rain . He even has a romance subplot with Françoise Dorléac, where he speaks French (badly, but charmingly). It is the ultimate passing of the torch. Hollywood meets the Nouvelle Vague. Kelly’s presence validates Demy’s thesis: joy is a universal language. For the best experience, watch the original French

In an era of ironic detachment and gritty reboots, Les Demoiselles is disarmingly sincere. It believes that love is just around the corner, that a stranger will fall in love with your painting, and that a murder subplot (yes, there is a random axe murderer loose in the town) can be resolved with a shrug and a dance number.