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The Young Girls Of Rochefort

FROM THE MAKERS OF "THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG"
IN GLORIOUS RESTORED WIDESCREEN COLOR

Music by Michel Legrand

starring
Catherine Deneuve
Françoise Dorléac
George Chakiris

with special appearances by
Gene Kelly
and
Danielle Darrieux

PRESSBOOK

Press Contacts:

Cynthia Swartz, Miramax Films
Tel: (212) 941-3800

Tel: (212) 966-0730
Marjorie Sweeney, Film Forum Repertory Publicist

A Miramax Zoe Release

The Young Girls Of Rochefort

PRODUCTION CREDITS

PRESS QUOTES

"Thrill to it all over again!"
-Film Comment

"A sun-drenched, candy-colored, singing and dancing valentine
to the Hollywood confections of Vincente Minnelli.
The movie works its way under your skin, and you
root for those happily ever afters, inevitable as they may be."
- Stephen Holden, New York Times

"Breathtakingly beautiful, full of a joy and innocence that barely seem to belong to the 20th century."
- Dave Kehr, Daily News

SYNOPSIS

The Young Girls Of Rochefort is director Jacques Demy and Michel Legrand's ravishing 1967 French musical starring real-life sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac as twins who live in a colorful world of music and romance. Demy and Legrand also collaborated on The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, their Palme d'Or winning 1964 musical (re-released in 1995 to great critical acclaim). A companion piece to Umbrellas, The Young Girls Of Rochefort is a charming cinematic valentine to French provincial life and American movie musicals.

The Garnier girls are fraternal twins, alike in spirit though not identical in looks. Ethereal blonde Delphine (Deneuve) is a ballet teacher and dancer, and redheaded Solange (Dorléac), is a singer and composer. They live in the port town of Rochefort on the southwest coast of France, where they give music and dancing lessons. The sisters take turns fetching their younger brother Boubou (Patrick Jeantet) from school and bringing him back to their mother, Madam Yvonne (French cinema legend Danielle Darrieux), who runs a cafe by the town square. The sisters, while far from unhappy, cherish dreams of romantic love and musical careers, and plan to go to Paris to fulfill their ambitions someday.

When a fair is held on the town square, the entire town becomes part of the excitement. Etienne (George Chakiris from West Side Story) and Bill (Grover Dale) are two dashing boat and motorcycle salesman who arrive to set up booths at the fair. When their girlfriends take off with two sailors, Etienne and Bill convince the Garnier sisters to replace them with a stage act of their own, promising to take them to Paris afterwards to pursue their careers.

Delphine and Solange's knockout number at the fair show is a huge success, but they dream of men other than their two traveling suitors. Delphine's dream man is a handsome blond sailor and artist named Maxence (Jacques Perrin), who, unbeknownst to her, is looking for a woman exactly like herself. He's even painted her portrait, though he's never seen her. Solange meets American concert pianist Andy Miller (Gene Kelly) on the street and it is love -- and loss -- at first sight for the both of them. Meanwhile, the girls' mother Yvonne longs to be reunited with her former lover and father of her son, Simon Dame (Michel Piccoli), who just happens to run a music shop in town.....

Amid the glorious sunshine of an enchanted summer, the inhabitants of Rochefort sing and dance in the street to the music of Michel Legrand as they search for love and each other. And love is never far away for those who dream of it in Jacques Demy's lyrical world of song, dance and romance.

The Young Girls of Rochefort is an elegant film fable from director Jacques Demy and composer Michel Legrand, the team behind the Palme d'Or winning 1964 musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Ambitious in scope and delightful in execution, The Young Girls of Rochefort was conceived as a Gallic homage to the American musical, particularly the films of Vincente Minnelli, who had borrowed themes and settings from France to begin with. If Americans were singing and dancing in Paris, surely the French could -- and should -- do the same.

Though Demy and Legrand had long cherished the idea of bringing a lavish musical to the screen, it was difficult to obtain the necessary funding for such an extravagant project. The success of Umbrellas -- which was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film -- provided them with the breakthrough they needed. The very same producers who had hesitated before now rushed to approach Demy and Legrand about a follow-up project, specifically a sequel to Umbrellas. Though a conventional sequel did not interest them, they were eager to create a companion piece to Umbrellas, a film like it in spirit and vision but with its own unique atmosphere.

Like Umbrellas, Young Girls is lyrical, colorful, and charming, but this time Demy and Legrand introduce an optimistic theme that thrives in the sunny atmosphere of the seaside town of Rochefort. Unlike the lovers of Umbrellas, the inhabitants of Rochefort do not have to compromise or choose when it comes to romance. Happiness is theirs for the asking, around every corner and in every song. Though fate might tease them, it is only so that their eventual fulfillment will seem the sweeter.

"It is so easy to depict violence on the screen," Demy once said of his work on Young Girls. "The greatest task is to show people who are truly happy." Demy's unswerving belief in this ideal comes through in all his work, from the lovers of Lola to the bittersweet beauty of Umbrellas. His determination to lift the audience into an enchanted realm is powerful enough to succeed, transporting us into a world where even the wildest dreams seem possible. From the reuniting of long-lost lovers to the search for beauty and perfection, Young Girls is dedicated to the desire to set things right, to grant wishes and validate fantasy. The plot is simple yet beguiling, redolent of schoolgirl romances and childhood storybooks -- but seeing it played out up on the screen, rather than in the mind's eye, makes it seem perfectly reasonable and right that people should sing when they feel like it, dance at very opportunity, and never leave the house without an adorable hat on.

Music and dance are essential in the cinematic world of Jacques Demy and Michel Legrand. Unlike Umbrellas, Young Girls features spoken dialogue, though the characters break into song freely and frequently to comment on their emotions and actions. Demy also worked extensively with choreographer Norman Maen to create lively dance numbers that would provide an eye-catching backdrop to the town streets and underscore the larger-than-life qualities of the main characters.

Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac

The saucy, sexy sister act of Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac is the heart and soul of The Young Girls of Rochefort. From their toe-tapping duet (The Twins' Song) at the beginning of the film to their splashy red-sequined tribute to Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell's "Girls From Little Rock" number in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, the chemistry between these fantastic femmes is electrifying. The sisters exude such wit and beauty that it seems perfectly reasonable that an entire town should revolve around their smallest actions and deepest desires.

It is all the more tragic that this triumphantly lighthearted screen performance would be Françoise Dorléac's last. Soon after the film was finished, poised at the height of her success and happiness, Dorléac perished in an auto accident in Nice.

Gene Kelly

One person whom Demy and Legrand had wanted to involve in the project from the start was American musical star Gene Kelly. His presence would be the crowning connection between Hollywood and France, a validation of the cinematic vision Demy was striving to achieve. Legrand had worked with Kelly before, and when he and Demy first approached him with the script, Kelly was quite enthusiastic. Previous commitments, however, would not allow him to work on the film for at least two years.

Demy forged on, retooling the script and working on the songs with Legrand. He cast the Dorléac sisters in roles of the Garnier twins, and was also able to get another American musical star, George Chakiris from West Side Story, to play Etienne. Michel Piccoli and Jacques Perrin soon joined the cast of Young Girls, and Danielle Darrieux, whose presence in the Max Ophüls classics of the 1950s had been a particular influence on Demy, signed on for the role of Madame Yvonne.

As for Kelly, he turned out to be worth the wait. With the American star firmly on board, Demy and producer Mag Bodard were able to secure enough financial backing from Warner Bros. to mount a full-scale production, to be filmed on location in Rochefort during the summer of 1966.

About the town of Rochefort

An important part of the atmosphere of Young Girls was the town in which the film would be set. As in Lola (set in Nantes) and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Demy envisioned the town where the story took place as a character in the film, with its inhabitants as extras. While he considered other towns and villages in the French countryside for the film, Demy ultimately chose the Atlantic port town of Rochefort, partly for its spectacular military architecture and primarily due to its open town square, which was free from trees and statuary that would impede the sweeping choreography he desired.

Rochefort was formerly home to shipyards, military bases, a rope factory, and a fishing industry. Not the most romantic place to set a musical, but Demy's idea was to show that the spirit of a musical could exist anywhere, even in a the humdrum reality of the most ordinary town. He saw the wonder and beauty in the most unlikely places, imparting a dreamy feel to the everyday settings. The famous opening shot -- a traveling overhead view of the fair arriving in Rochefort via the floating transporter bridge -- is a perfect example of his unusual interpretation of reality.

Demy envisioned moving the film musical outdoors with Young Girls, blending the conventions of film fantasy with realistic settings to create a postmodern musical. He worked with production designer Bernard Evein to literally paint the town, repainting hundreds of shutters, walls, and buildings vibrant colors that transformed the entire town of Rochefort from a provincial industrial port to the set of the dazzling musical extravaganza. From the pink pastel atelier where the Garnier girls teach to the heavenly white music shop where Solange finds herself waltzing in the arms of Gene Kelly, Rochefort is as picture perfect as any town could ever be.

The people of Rochefort became part of the film as well. Over 250 townspeople worked as extras. Local schoolchildren auditioned for roles that required them to perform in the fair show, and play schoolchildren, and even dance with Gene Kelly! In Agnès Varda's delightful 1992 documentary Les Demoiselles Ont Eu 25 Ans (The Young Girls Turn 25), she interviews many of the people who acted in the film as extras, and they share their magical memories of the making of the film. One of the more unusual stories involved a young boy and girl who played son and mother during on the scenes at Boubou's school. They met a few years later at a factory they both worked at, began reminiscing about working on the film...then started dating and eventually got married!

The town of Rochefort is now famous for the musical film that bears its name. Even now, should you ask the way to "Demoiselle Square", the nickname of the Place Colbert (where much of the main action takes place), you're likely to hear a few bars of the Garnier twins' famous theme song "La Chanson des Jumelles" ("The Twins' Song") in reply.

Demy's romantic trilogy

Demy's three romantic classics, Lola (1960), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), interconnect in subtle ways to form a trilogy that links many of the same characters to different destinies.

At one point in Young Girls, we find out that a woman has been brutally murdered and dismembered, her body placed in a wicker trunk. The name of the unfortunate victim is Lola, a former cabaret dancer. Those who have seen Demy's film Lola may remember that the eponymous heroine -- a cabaret dancer -- had to choose between three lovers. One of these unsuccessful suitors subsequently appeared in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg as the man who eventually marries the Catherine Deneuve character. Is the murdered woman the same Lola from the first film? It is never explicitly stated, but in light of the other connections between the films it seems a plausible conclusion to arrive at. Perhaps the price for Lola's previous happiness was to be extracted much later in life...in another movie.

Like the fairy tales it was inspired by, Young Girls contains trace elements of darkness and violence, which mainly serve to underscore the delicate and elusive nature of the happiness the characters are enjoying. Madame Yvonne is openly and unapologetically portrayed as the unmarried mother of three, and her motive for refusing to marry (she disliked her lover's last name!) is capricious and cruel. Yet the man -- and the movie -- forgive her without hesitation once she is presented with an opportunity for reconciliation.

Another dark moment occurs during a scene where the main characters enjoy a dinner together in the cafe run by Madam Yvonne. One of the regulars, an older man named Monsieur Dutrouz, dines with them. Yvonne invites him to cut the cake for dessert, but he balks at this simple task. Later on, it turns out that this unremarkable old man is actually the violent criminal who murdered Lola!

The restoration of The Young Girls From Rochefort

Young Girls, like The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, was shot on Eastmancolor film stock, which was notorious for its instability. The bright saturated colors of the original release prints faded quickly, often within five years or less.

Jacques Demy's widow, the filmmaker Agnès Varda, was the driving force behind the successful restoration of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and she and her family were equally determined to make sure Young Girls was also restored so that future audiences might enjoy the film. The town of Rochefort helped pay some of the costs of the restoration as well.

Varda and the film company Cine-Tamaris searched for the original materials on Young Girls but were unable to find any black and white prints of the tricolor selection that would make three-strip color restoration possible. (This was the method that had restored The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg to such intense glory for its re-release in 1995.) However, they did find a fine grain "security" print in good condition that was used to make a new negative, from which Varda was able, with the assistance of Bruno Patin, to review and restore the original colors shot by shot.

Varda had been on set for the filming of the movie in 1966, and well remembered the original look and color of the film's sets. Without Jacques or cinematographer Ghislain Cloquet alive to assist, the task fell entirely to Varda' s memory.

It helped that she had shot a great deal of 16mm footage of the making of the film, much of which can be seen in her documentary Les Demoiselles Ont Eu 25 Ans (The Young Girls Turn 25), which she put together after filming the festivities that the town of Rochefort organized in 1992.

For the restoration of the sound, the tracks were digitally re-mixed and resynchronized. The timing was re-checked as well, and finally a new sound optical negative was then made for use on the composite prints, as well as for a new video master.

Michel Legrand began his career working with New Wave directors like Truffaut, Godard and Varda, and went on to become one of the world's most renowned -- and prolific -- film music composers. His long collaboration with director Jacques Demy began when he scored Demy's first film, Lola, in 1961. The creative duo broke new ground with the innovative musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1964 and was also nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Song and Best Foreign Film. Demy and Legrand followed this success in 1967 with The Young Girls of Rochefort, a musical much in the same spirit of Umbrellas. The Young Girls of Rochefort was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Score in 1969.

Friends as well as colleagues and collaborators, Demy and Legrand continued to work together over the years until Demy's death in 1990. Here Legrand remembers working with the great French director.

A few months after its release in 1964, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, the first long musical created by Jacques Demy and myself, won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. The film then went on to enjoy incredible success internationally. We were all surprised, of course, no one more so than all of those producers who had originally dismissed us by saying: "You're a couple of good guys, but you'd better get it into your heads that people will never go to see a film where the characters are singing for an hour and a half about the humdrum of everyday life." Nevertheless, after the success of Umbrellas, they were quick to approach us with the proposition of making "Umbrellas 2", another story of thwarted love.

For Jacques and I, it was out of the question to focus again on a film that would be sung in its entirety. Umbrellas wasn't supposed to establish a formula, or a system. We didn't know exactly what we wanted to do, but we did knew, on the other hand, what we didn't want to do.

Jacques' initial idea, even before finding a subject, was to create, in a very personal fashion, a film that would pay homage to the American musical, alternating sequences of dialogue, song and dance. As a little gesture of connection between Jacques' world, and that of the classics from the other side of the Atlantic, we both decided to approach Gene Kelly, the dream-icon of the Hollywood musical, to star in our project.

At the time, I already knew Gene as a result of having conducted the musical accompaniment of his TV shows, An American in Paris. When Jacques and I visited him in Los Angeles to give him a first draft of the script of Young Girls, he was enthusiastic, telling us, "I love France...I've wanted to go back for years. And I love these characters who lose each other, miss each other, find each other again, so - I accept!" You can
imagine our smiles at this reaction. "However", Gene continued, "I have to shoot two other films first. If you really want me, you're going to have to wait about two years." A little disappointed, we decided nevertheless to continue with the idea. Jacques would put the finishing touches on his script, and then we would work together on the songs.

One day, almost a year after our visit, Gene Kelly called us, saying "Hey kids, what's up? Are we making this movie or not?" Jacques and I got a kick out of that. We were the ones waiting for him, and yet with his good humor, he was acting like it was the other way around! As it turned out, Kelly's participation was vital to the project. Our producer, Mag Bodard, had signed agreements with Warner Brothers which required the presence of the American star for them to commit to the film financially. If Gene had delayed us, the production risked getting shelved.

However, optimists by nature, Jacques and I decided to take that risk. We then threw ourselves into the dizzying task of writing the five dance sequences and sixteen songs for the film, and our efforts and patience were rewarded in the end when Kelly did indeed play a key role in the film.

For the music, Jacques wanted a euphoric score, like a joyous whirlwind throughout the film. Now the music I write is often more lyrical, romantic or dramatic, so it took some effort for me to create the bouncy, catchy themes that Jacques wanted. In fact, we really found the tone of the film with "Solange's Song". Its jazzy riffs appealed greatly to Jacques. "Michel, that's the spirit!" he yelled when I finally got it.

Another problem was the lyrics, which were written in alexandrines [Iambic hexameter verse, standard in classical French drama of the 16th century, but which are often rather drawn out, especially when translated into English.] They were all written like that, except for the dinner sequence, when the Gamier family, the fairground stall holders and Dutrouz find themselves at dessert. As a bit of a gag, Jacques decided to film without music, asking the actors to act in alexandrines, which turned out to be an arresting and poetic moment in the film.

Jacques and I had originally thought of Brigitte Bardot and Geraldine Chaplin to play the twin sisters, then of Bardot and Jeanne Moreau, the pair from Viva Maria, which had come out a few months earlier. Finally, we chose the Dorléac sisters, Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac, which of course turned out to be the best idea, the most logical one. Then George Chakiris came on board, direct from West Side Story, Michel Piccoli, Jacques Perrin, Danielle Darrieux and Norman Maen, an English choreographer.

Contrary to Umbrellas, which was sung from beginning to end, I had to find singers whose voices corresponded precisely with those of the actors they were dubbing. We had to create a perfect impression, so that viewers would not, even for one moment guess that the actors' voices were dubbed. To ensure this, I worked very hard on the "voice casting" as it were, experimenting with different combinations. For example, before assigning the singer Jean Stout to Jacques Riberolles (Guillaume Lancien), I first auditioned Michel Piccoli (Simon Dame), which didn't work too well. For the twin sisters, my problem was to find two singers who offered the same vocal contrast as Françoise and Catherine. The former with a rather low-toned vocal, and the latter a little lighter in quality. After several attempts, Jacques and I finally a agreed on Claude
Parent and Anne Germain, whose voices perfectly complimented those of each respective actress. The effect was achieved to such perfection that even today, many people are convinced that Catherine and Françoise sing their own songs in the film. That's the indisputable proof of a successful dubbing process!

Regularly during the shoot, which lasted several weeks, I went to visit Rochefort. Seeing the availability of such a range of technical improvements, it struck me how Jacques' status in French and international cinema had changed. While Lola, Bay of The Angels and even Umbrellas had been filmed on a strict budget, with small crews, The Young Girls of Rochefort enjoyed a very evident comfort level. For example, the crowd sequences, the crane shots, the presence of Gene Kelly and of American dancers made us realize that Jacques was now working at a completely different level. He had finally achieved the means to do what he had dreamed of for so long. Nevertheless, while he was happy during the shoot, he was also completely focused on it - worried about the lighting, the cutting, and the actors, which is understandable, knowing him.

Thirty years later, The Young Girls of Rochefort remains a film very dear to my heart. I inevitably think of Jacques when I play "Maxence's Song"- which has since become known in the English-speaking world as "You Must Believe In Spring." Young Girls is also the film where dance was introduced into Demy's work. It is also the film where Jacques and I developed the theme of lovers who are destined to meet yet keep missing each other. As for our writing, we developed the following principle: "whatever the characters are in the flesh, they must also be in the music!" The Young Girls of Rochefort is, without doubt, the most optimistic and lighthearted work which our artistic collaboration produced.

When I think of Jacques, I remember arriving at his house in the mornings to work together. He would stand by the piano with a blank notepad, and I would have a blank music sheet in front of me over the keyboard. I would say to myself, for the moment, nothing exists. But after about an hour, or maybe a day or a week, all these sheets will be filled, and we will have created something new. On occasions, all that was necessary was a quick riff on the piano to set the creative process in motion.

Most of all, knowing that Lola, Umbrellas and Young Girls are being re-distributed in the theaters and are enjoyed by a new generation thirty-five years later really warms my heart.

Jacques Demy was born in 1931 and began his film career assisting the animator Paul Grimault. Demy made a number of short films throughout the 1950s, and in 1960 burst onto the world cinema scene with Lola, a romantic roundelay starring Anouk Aimee as a cabaret dancer forced to choose between a trio of lovers. Lola was inspired by the films of Demy's fellow romantic Max Ophüls (to whom the film is dedicated) and the narrative coincidences, sweeping camerawork , and theme of the elusiveness of romantic love all anticipate the style of his later films, including The Young Girls of Rochefort and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

Lola was followed by Bay of Angels (1963), starring Jeanne Moreau as a compulsive gambler. His next film, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) starred Catherine Deneuve and featuring music by Michel Legrand, won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and Best Song, and made the production of The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) possible.

Demy married director Agnès Varda and continued to make films until 1988. He died in 1990, having created a singular genre of enchanted modernity on film. His romantically-themed films are an elegant tapestry woven from threads of Hollywood musicals, French fairy tales, and his own childhood memories of the Atlantic coast towns -- Nantes, Rochefort, and Cherbourg -- where he grew up. With the restoration and re-release of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in 1995 and The Young Girls of Rochefort in 1998, Demy's "cinema of joy" continues to amaze and delight audiences worldwide.

1956 - LE SABOTIER DU VAL DE LOIRE - director
1957 - LE BEL INDIFFERENT - director
1958 - MUSEE GREVIN (short) - co-director
1959 - ARS - director
1959 - THE FOUR HUNDRED BLOWS - performer
1960 - PARIS BELONGS TO US - performer
1961 - 7 CAPITAL SINS - director, co-screenwriter
1960 - LOLA - director
1962 - BAY OF ANGELS - director, screenwriter
1964 - THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG - director, screenwriter, lyrics
1967 - THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT - director, screenwriter, lyrics
1969 - THE MODEL SHOP - director, producer, screenwriter
1971 - DONKEY SKIN - director, screenwriter
1972 - THE PIED PIPER - director, co-screenwriter
1973 - A SLIGHTLY PREGNANT MAN - director, screenwriter
1979 - LADY OSCAR - director
1982 - UNE CHAMBRE EN VILLE - director, screenwriter
1985 - PARKING - director, screenwriter, lyrics
1988 - LA TABLE TOURNANTE - director, screenwriter
1988 - TROIS PLACES POUR LE 26 - director, screenwriter

Since 1965, when he received three Academy Award nominations for his score, adaptation, and the song "I Will Wait For You" from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Michel Legrand has become one of the most successful film composers of our time. He has won three Oscars from a total of thirteen nominations, five Grammy Awards, and an Emmy nomination for his score to the television movie Brian's Song.

Legrand was born in 1932, Paris, France and educated at the Paris Conservatoire. He worked as a piano accompanist for singers including Juliette Greco and Bing Crosby and enjoyed success as a composer and singer of popular music before turning his attention to the screen in the mid-1950s. His richly melodic work graced the early films of New Wave directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Agnès Varda, and he has subsequently worked with international figures including Norman Jewison, Joseph Losey, Kon Ichikawa and Orson Welles.

Though he remains best-known for his film collaborations with Jacques Demy, Legrand first came to attention in the U.S. when at the age of 22, he arranged and conducted the Columbia recording I Love Paris, which one of the best-selling instrumental records ever released. he received his first Oscar in 1968 for Best Song "The Windmills of Your Mind" from The Thomas Crown Affair, and his second Oscar for best original Dramatic Score for Summer of '42. His third Oscar came in 1984 for Best Original Score for the Barbra Streisand film Yentl, cited by Time Magazine as the "the most romantic, coherent and sophisticated original movie score since Gigi a quarter-century ago."

In addition to composing, Legrand is an accomplished conductor as well as a classical and jazz pianist. He made his feature directing debut with Five Days In June (1989), an autobiographical drama set against the Normandy landings. His most recent film score is for the 1998 film Madeline.

1960 - LOLAscore composer
1961 - 7 CAPITAL SINSscore composer
1962 - BAY OF ANGELSscore composer
1963 - MY LIFE TO LIVEscore composer
1964BAND OF OUTSIDERSscore composer
1964THE BEAUTIFUL SWINDLERSscore composer
1964THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURGscore composer, conductor
1967THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORTscore composercomposer, voice dubbing
1968ICE STATION ZEBRAscore composer
1968THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIRscore composer, song composer
1969THE PICASSO SUMMERscore composer
1970WUTHERING HEIGHTSscore composer, conductor
1971DONKEY SKINperformer, score composer
1971THE GO-BETWEENscore composer
1971SUMMER OF '42score composer
1972LADY SINGS THE BLUESscore composer
1972PORTNOY'S COMPLAINTscore composer
197340 CARATSscore composer
1973A DOLL'S HOUSEscore composer
1973F FOR FAKEscore composer
1973A SLIGHTLY PREGNANT MANscore composer
1974THE THREE MUSKETEERSscore composer
1977THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHTscore composer
1977SEMI-TOUGHscore composer
1979LADY OSCARscore composer
1980ATLANTIC CITYscore composer, music director
1980MELVIN AND HOWARDscore composer, song composer
1981BOLEROscore composer
1982BEST FRIENDSscore composer, song composer
1983NEVER SAY NEVER AGAINscore composer, song composer
1983YENTLscore composer, music director, orchestration, song composer
1984MICKI + MAUDEsong composer
1988SWITCHING CHANNELSscore composer, score composer
1988TROIS PLACES POUR LE 26score composer
1989FIVE DAYS IN JUNEdirector, screenwriter,
score composer
1993WRESTLING ERNEST HEMINGWAYsong composer
1994READY TO WEAR (PRET-A-PORTER)score composer
1995A HUNDRED AND ONE NIGHTSmusic excerpts
1995LES MISERABLESscore composer
1995CHILDREN OF LUMIEREscore composer
1996THE RINGTV score
1998MADELINEscore composer

Born on January 5, 1929, in Saint-Nazaire, France, Evein was educated at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Nantes and became a key New Wave art director who effectively adapted himself to a wide range of directorial styles. Evein created menacing interiors for Claude Chabrol (The Cousins, 1959 and Web Of Passion, 1959) as well as the bold, open vistas of Jacques Demy's Lola (1961) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967). Other outstanding works include Godard's vivacious color debut A Woman Is A Woman (1960) and Louis Malle's melancholic The Fire Within (1963).

1968 THÉRÈSEProduction designer
1982 UNE CHAMBRE EN VILLEProduction designer
1976 LE JOUETProduction designer
1973 LE GRAND BAZARProduction designer
1970 THE CONFESSIONProduction designer
1967 THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORTProduction designer
1965 !VIVA MARÍA! Production designer
1964 THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURGProduction designer
1963 THE FIRE WITHINProduction designer
1963 BAY OF ANGELSProduction designer
1962 CLEO FROM 5 TO 7Production designer
1962 TODAY WE LIVEProduction designer
1961 LOLAProduction designer
1961 A WOMAN IS A WOMANProduction designer
1961 LAST YEAR AT MARIENBADCostume designer
1961 A PRIVATE AFFAIRProduction designer
1960 ZAZIE DANS LE METROProduction designer
1959 THE 400 BLOWS Set decorator
1959 THE COUSINSProduction designer
1959 WEB OF PASSIONProduction designer

Director, writer, film preservationist and widow of director Jacques Demy, Varda was born in 1928, in Brussels, Belgium, and was to become known as the "godmother of the New Wave." Her first feature film, La Pointe Courte (1954), was cited by critic Georges Sadoul as "the first film of the Nouvelle Vague" and it set the tone for Varda's career to come, combining fiction with documentary styles. Varda's other films include Cleo From 5 To 7 (1962), Du Cote De La Cote, (1958), Lions Love (1969), and One Sings, The Other Doesn't (1977). Her 1985 film Vagabond, a documentary-style feature about a young French wanderer, won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

In recent years,Varda has completed films about her husband Jacques Demy's life and work, including Jacquot Des Nantes (1990), L'univers de Jacques Demy (1993), and Les Demoiselles Ont Eu 25 Ans (1992), a documentary about the town of Rochefort's celebration of the film. Varda is also the driving force behind the restoration of Demy's classics films, including The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg (re-released to great acclaim in 1995) and Les Demoiselles De Rochefort (re-released in 1998).

Born Catherine Dorléac on October 22, 1943 in Paris, France, Catherine is the third of four daughters born to French actors Maurice Teynac and Renée Deneuve. Deneuve entered films as a teenager using her actress mother's maiden name and appeared in several routine movies such as Les Portes Claquent (1960) with elder sister Françoise Dorléac. Her youthfulness mirrored the sparkle of Jacques Demy's playful musical The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg (1964), and Deneuve became a leading international star.

Later an icy charm would brilliantly embody contemporary repression and ennui in Roman Polanski's Repulsion (1965) along with Luis Buñuel's Belle De Jour (1967) and Tristana (1970). Hollywood has occasionally made use of Deneuve's talents, in films such as The April Fools (1969), and The Hustle (1975). Her appearance in the 1983 vampire film The Hunger polarized critics and brought her enduring cult status on both sides of the Atlantic.

Deneuve's status as an icon is so complete that the French Republic chose her profile as the model for symbolic "Marianne" statues to be displayed across the country. Her starring role in Indochine (1992), in which she played a Frenchwoman who has never seen her native land, brought her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Deneuve was formerly married to photographer David Bailey and has children by director Roger Vadim and actor Marcello Mastroianni.

1956LES COLLEGIENNES
1959WILD ROOTS OF LOVE
1960LES PORTES CLAQUENT
1962ET SATAN CONDUIT LE BAL
1962VICE AND VIRTUE
1964THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG
1965LE CHANT DU MONDE
1965REPULSION
1966LES CREATURES
1967BELLE DE JOUR
1967THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT
1969MISSISSIPPI MERMAID
1969TRISTANA
1971DONKEY SKIN
1972DIRTY MONEY
1973A SLIGHTLY PREGNANT MAN
1975HUSTLE
1976ANIMA PERSA
1979AN ADVENTURE FOR TWO
1980THE LAST METRO
1981JE VOUS AIME
1982HOTEL DES AMERIQUES
1983THE HUNGER
1986SCENE OF THE CRIME
1992AGAINST OBLIVION
1992INDOCHINE
1993MY FAVORITE SEASON
1994THE CONVENT
1995A HUNDRED AND ONE NIGHTS
1995THE THIEVES
1996 GENEAOLOGY OF A CRIME
1998POLA X
1998THE LAST NAPOLEON
1999LA PRINCESSE DE CLEVES

Born Eugene Curran Kelly on August 23, 1912, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Kelly put himself through Penn State University by working as a ditchdigger and soda jerk. He hoped to play baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but when his sports career didn't pan out, Kelly channeled his athleticism into some of the best dancing ever done on stage or screen, proving himself to be astonishingly talented as an actor, singer, choreographer and director. He always managed to exude charm in his acting and grace in his footwork, and as a director/choreographer, he devised new film techniques and introduced unusual dance numbers, including dancing with a cartoon character and dancing with a shadowy reflection of himself.

Kelly's first screen test, for RKO in 1935, was unsuccessful. Three years after moving to New York in 1938, however, he had established a reputation on Broadway strong enough for David Selznick to sign him to a seven-year contract. He came direct from the hit Broadway show Pal Joey and planned to return to the Broadway stage after making the one film called for in his movie contract. Kelly was loaned to MGM for his first film, For Me And My Gal (1942), opposite Judy Garland. The film was unexceptional, but Kelly's performance impressed MGM enough to buy out his contract. He went on to become a leading Hollywood star, director, dancer and choreographer in some of the greatest Hollywood films ever made, including An American In Paris (the 1951 Academy Award winner for Best Picture), Singin' In The Rain (1952, co-directed with Stanley Donen), Brigadoon (1954), Cover Girl (1944), On The Town (1949), and It's Always Fair Weather (1955).

Kelly served in the U.S. Navy during World war II, earning the rank of lieutenant in the photographic division of the naval air force. In 1951, he received a Special Academy Award for his exceptional talents, "especially for his brilliant achievements in the art of choreography on film." Kelly was awarded the American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award in 1985 and the National Medal of Freedom from President Clinton in 1994.

He was married to actress Betsy Blair from 1940 to 1957 and to dancer Jeannie Coyne (Donen's former wife) from 1960 until her death in 1973. He married writer Patricia Ward in 1990. Kelly died on February 2, 1996, Beverly Hills, California of complications from two strokes. His final words on film are in the 1994 film That's Entertainment: "The song has ended, but the melody lingers on."

1942FOR ME AND MY GALperformer, co-choreographer
1943DUBARRY WAS A LADYperformer
1943THOUSANDS CHEERperformer, choreography
1944CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYperformer
1944COVER GIRLperformer, choreography
1945ANCHORS AWEIGHperformer, choreography
1946ZIEGFELD FOLLIESperformer
1948THE THREE MUSKETEERSperformer
1949ON THE TOWNperformer, co-choreographer,
co-director
1949TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAMEperformer, co-story, choreography
1951AN AMERICAN IN PARISperformer, choreography
1952SINGIN' IN THE RAINperformer, choreography,
co-director
1954BRIGADOONperformer, choreography
1955IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHERperformer, choreography, director
1958MARJORIE MORNINGSTARperformer
1958THE TUNNEL OF LOVEdirector
1960INHERIT THE WINDperformer
1960LET'S MAKE LOVEperformer
1968THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORTperformer
1969HELLO, DOLLY!director
1970THE CHEYENNE SOCIAL CLUBdirector, producer
197340 CARATSperformer
1974THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!performer
1976THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT, PART 2director, co-narrator
1977VIVA KNIEVEL!performer
1980XANADUperformer, song composer
1994THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT! IIIperformer

Françoise Dorléac, elder sister of Catherine Deneuve, was born on March 21, 1942 in Paris, France. The daughter of French actors Maurice Teynac and Renée Deneuve, Dorléac made her first screen appearance in Les Portes Claquent (1960), and continued her climb to stardom with roles in numerous films including The Girl With The Golden Eyes (1961), Rene Clair's All The Gold In The World (1960), Arsene Lupin (1962), La Peau Douce (1964), and Roman Polanski's Cul-de-sac (1966). Best remembered for her star turn with sister Catherine in the 1967 musical The Young Girls of Rochefort, Dorléac died tragically in an auto crash in Nice in 1967. A street in Rochefort is named after her.

1968THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT
1967 BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN
1966CUL-DE-SAC
1965GENGHIS KHAN
1965WHERE THE SPIES ARE
1964PEAU DOUCE, LA/THE SOFT SKIN
1964LA CHASSE À L'HOMME
1964L'HOMME DE RIO
1962ARSÈNE LUPIN
1961THE GIRL WITH THE GOLDEN EYES
1961ALL THE GOLD IN THE WORLD
1960CE SOIR OU JAMAIS
1960LES PORTES CLAQUENT

The grande dame of French film and an international film star, Darrieux was born on May 1, 1917, in Bordeaux, France. She was educated at the Paris Conservatoire in music and made her first film appearance in the 1931 film Le Bal. She appeared in numerous films throughout the 1930s, including Billy Wilder's first film, Mauvaise Graine (1934). Darrieux progressed from playing pouty teens to worldly sophisticates, hitting a creative peak in the early 1950s with her appearances in the Max Ophüls masterpieces La Ronde (1950) and The Earrings of Madame de...(1953). She also played many of the great ladies of literature, including star turns in adaptations of Le Rouge et Le Noir (1954) and Lady Chatterly's Lover (1955). She was married to director Henri Decoin from 1935 to 1941 and starred in several of his movies into the 1950s.

1996A CHEF IN LOVE
1996ENFANTS DE SALAUD/BASTARD BROOD
1991LE JOUR DES ROIS/EPIPHANY SUNDAY
1989BILLE EN TÊTE /HEADSTRONG
1988QUELQUES JOURS AVEC MOI
1986CORPS ET BIENS
1986LA LIEU DU CRIME/THESCENE OF THE CRIME
1982A ROOM IN TOWN
1978LE CAVALEUR
1976L'ANNÉE SAINTE/PILGRIMAGE TO ROME
1972 THE LONELY WOMAN,
1968BIRDS COME TO DIE IN PERU
1968THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT
1968 24 HOURS IN THE LIFE OF A WOMAN
1966BIRDS DO IT
1962BLUEBEARD
1961THE GENTLE ART OF MURDER
1957TYPHOON OVER NAGASAKI
1957HOSUE OF LOVERS
1956ALEXANDER THE GREAT
1955NAPOLÉON
1955LADY CHATTERLY'S LOVER
1955ONE STEP TO ETERNITY
1954ESCALIER DE SERVICE
1954 CHÂTEAUX EN ESPAGNE
1954LE ROUGE ET LE NOIR
1953THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE...
1953LE BON DIEU SANS CONFESSION
1952ADORABLE CREATURES
1952FIVE FINGERS

Born September 16, 1933 in Norwood, Ohio to parents of Greek origin, Chakiris made his film debut at the age of 12 singing in the chorus of Song of Love (1947). Following his graduation from high school, Chakiris supported his night-time dancing, singing and dramatic lessons with a daytime job clerking in a Los Angeles department store.

Later he started his acting/dancing career appearing in musicals such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) - he is one of the ballet dancers escorting Marilyn Monroe in "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friends"- White Christmas (1954), The Girl Rush (1954), There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), Brigadoon (1954), and Meet Me In Las Vegas (1956).

In 1957 he made his debut as a dramatic actor in Under Fire. In 1958, he traveled to New York hoping for a Broadway break. Hearing that Jerome Robbins was casting the London company of West Side Story, he auditioned and was awarded the co-starring role of Riff. He played the part of Riff for almost two years on the West End stage before acting, singing and dancing as Bernardo in the Robert Wise film (1961), a performance that earned him a Golden Globe and the Academy Award for best supporting actor.

Since then, he starred in a succession of films, including Diamond Head with Charlton Heston (1962), La Ragazza Di Bube with Claudia Cardinale (1963), Les Demoiselles de Rochefort with Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Dorléac and Gene Kelly (1967), The Big Cube with Lana Turner (1969), Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again (1982), and Pale Blood (1991). His nightclub career was launched to rave reviews at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and Harrah's Club in Lake Tahoe. In the 70s and 80s, his career focused on television and music. He appeared as guest star in several TV series such as The Return of Wonder Woman , CHiPs , Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Murder She Wrote, and joined the cast of Dallas (1985 -1986). Recently, Chakiris appeared on stage in The King and I in the US in 1995, and played the role of Rochester in the British musical Jane Eyre.

Born Jacques Daniel Michel Piccoli on December 27, 1925, in Paris, France, Piccoli became famous as an urbane Franco-Italian performer, on stage from the late 1940s and in routine screen character roles through the 50s. Piccoli gained prominence in the following decades with roles as sophisticated bourgeois types in films by Luis Buñuel, Hitchcock and Chabrol. He has since cemented his reputation as one of France's most prolific and acclaimed performers, working with directors including Bertrand Tavernier (Spoiled Children, 1977), Louis Malle (Atlantic City, 1980), Jacques Rivette (La Belle Noiseuse, 1991), Leos Carax (Bad Blood, 1987) and Jean-Luc Godard (Contempt, 1963). He appeared once again with Catherine Deneuve in Raoul Ruiz's Geneaology Of A Crime (1996).

Born on July 13, 1941, Paris, France and educated at the Paris Conservatoire, Perrin made his screen debut in 1957 and appeared in several key French and Italian films of the 1960s, winning the best actor award at the Venice Film Festival for his role in Vittorio De Sica's Half A Man (1966). Though he has appeared in numerous European productions over the years, American audiences are most likely to remember Perrin from the 1988 film Cinema Paradiso. Perrin began a second career as a producer in 1968, beginning with Costa-Gavras's landmark political thriller, Z (1969). He had earlier appeared in the director's first film, The Sleeping Car Murders, 1965.

Grover Dale has performed, directed, written, and choreographed for stage screen and television, winning Tony, Drama Desk, Dramalogue, Emmy, Clio Awards. He has appeared in four feature films as a performer, including The Young Girls Of Rochefort (1967), The Landlord (1970), Half A Sixpence (1967), and The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964). He has over 16 Broadway musicals, and 85 television productions to his credit as a performer, choreographer, and director, and has worked with such luminaries as Barbra Streisand, Alfred Lunt, Gene Saks, Noel Coward, Agnes de Mille, Tommy Tune, Jerome Robbins, Gene Kelly, and Jacques Demy.

In addition to his current role as the president of the L.A. Dance Foundation, Dale is now publisher and senior editor of "Dance and Fitness" Magazine.

Le Pont Transbordeur (The Transporter Bridge)Ballet
Arrivee de Camionneurs (The Truckdrivers Arrive)Ballet
Chanson des Jumelles (TheTwins' Song)Song
Chanson de Maxence (Maxence's Song)Song
De Delphine a Lancien (From Delphine to Lancien)Ballet
Nous Voyageons de Ville en Ville (We Travel From Town to Town)Song

Chanson de Delphine (Delphine's Song)Song
Chanson de Simon (Simon's Song)Song
Marins, Amis, Amants ou Maris (Sailors, Friends, Lovers or Husbands)Song
Andy Amoureaux (Andy In Love)Song
Chanson de Yvonne (Yvonne's Song)Song
Chanson de Maxence (Maxence's Song) repriseSong

Chanson de Solange (Solange's Song)Song
De Hambourg a Rochefort (From Hamburg To Rochefort)Song
La Femme Coupee en Morceaux (The Woman Cut Into Pieces)Song
Les Recontres (Encounters)Song
La Chanson de Andy (Andy's Song)Song
Kermesse (The Village Fair) MedleySong
Madison - Basketball - Choeurs d'Enfants
Les Femmes Grenouilles - L'Homme a la Moto
La Chanson d'un Jour d'Ete (The Song of A Summer Day)Song
Toujours...Jamais (Always....Never)Song
Concerto (Closing Sequence)Ballet

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