A merry and vivid movie like a champagne glass, putting together famous dance and movie stars (some at the beginning of their careers or not far from that) such as Catherine Deneuve, her sister the unfortunate Françoise Dorléac (who died in 1967 burnt alive in a car accident), the inimitable Gene Kelly, the dancer George Chakiris (West Side Story, do you remember?), Michel Piccoli and last but not least the veteran Danielle Darrieux always and still a pretty lady, in the role of mother of the two sisters (they appear as such also in the movie, one of them as a dance teacher and the other as a composer and piano teacher). This movie runs at a vivacious and lively rhythm following a sentimental plot of encounters, estrangements and re-encounters of lovers and friends, interspersed now and then with dances and songs of great quality in a cheerful atmosphere in the town of Rochefort. It's a musical the American way but differentiated by a subtle French touch here and there which is revealed for instance by the slight reference to the news on a newspaper of the sadistic murder of a woman or even when the two itinerant show businessmen who offer themselves to give a lift to Paris to both sisters,tell them that they would also like to go to bed with them though in a cheerful mood as some joke. This movie was well restored by Agnès Varda in 1992 (error excepted)and sets us in a good fettle after watching it.
Review of The Young Girls of Rochefort
