The Young Girls of Rochefort · reception & legacy

How The Young Girls of Rochefort has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

Received in 1967 as the lighter, more 'artificial' follow-up to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg — charming but slight was the verdict — it's since been fully canonised, helped along by the 1990s restoration overseen by Agnès Varda and a new generation who discovered it via La La Land. Now it's routinely called one of the most joyful films ever made.

What's debated

The eternal Demy debate: is Rochefort's sun-drunk exuberance actually richer than Cherbourg's heartbreak, or is it the beautiful-but-lesser sibling — and is all that pastel joy hiding something much sadder underneath?

Its footprint

The twins' song ('Nous sommes deux sœurs jumelles...') and the candy-coloured streets of Rochefort are endlessly referenced — most visibly by La La Land, which borrows its palette, its ensemble numbers, and its whole spirit. The town of Rochefort still celebrates the film as its claim to fame.

Where it stands

A Criterion and Letterboxd darling — the 'happiest film ever made' slot in the canon, and the standard prescription when someone asks cinephiles for pure joy on screen.

Named by the director

Influences Jacques Demy has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

• Gene Kelly — Demy openly idolised Kelly and the MGM musical tradition, and cast him in the film as a living homage to it.