

Discover more from Asia Sentinel
An Original Film Musical
Here’s the link to the poignant love theme song in
“Les Parapluies de Cherbourg” (“The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”):-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7Unnx5eLbk&list=FLlMBDFYTe8MGL_Z6TJc6LOg
The film won the Palme d’Or award at the 1964 Cannes
Film Festival. It catapulted Catherine Deneuve to stardom and brought world
fame to Michel Legrand’s music.
It is a heart wrenching love story in which two
Cherbourg lovers (Genevieve and Guy) were separated by Guy being drafted into
military service for the Algerian War. The fateful separation was accentuated
by the irony that Genevieve’s pregnancy - a result of lovemaking just prior to Guy’s
departure – caused their eventual permanent breakup, as it led to Genevieve’s
mother insisting (for practical reasons) that she should marry a wealthy businessman
in Guy’s absence. Upon Guy’s return from the war, he felt heart-broken for a
while and then married another girl who had always been in love with him, and
later had a son with her. In the last episode, Genevieve showed up in a
Mercedes with her (and Guy’s) daughter at the gas station which Guy had bought
with an inheritance from his aunt. Genevieve got out of the car to go inside
the station to chat with Guy. When Genevieve asked Guy whether he wished to
meet “their” daughter, he declined. The two parted wistfully, their emotions in
check.
The story calls to mind a Mandarin song by a
Taiwanese singer about the remote possibility of a past love being rekindled “有多少愛可以從來?”
(“What are the chances of a rekindling of past love?”)
Here’s the link
to the song:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE2HWkg2L6U&list=FLlMBDFYTe8MGL_Z6TJc6LOg
Some of you may know that there’s a Cantonese
version of this song rendered by Faye Wong “愛與痛的邊緣” (although the
Cantonese lyrics tell a story of unrequited love):-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgudX_bMSv8&list=FLlMBDFYTe8MGL_Z6TJc6LOg