“The Young Girls of Rochefort” is my favorite musical on Netflix. It’s a French film from 1967 that should be more popular. This musical is full of optimism, yet tempered by longings that give it a greater depth.
“The Young Girls of Rochefort” takes place in the titular French town. It is about two non-identical twin sisters named Delphine and Solange, who are played by real-life sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac.
Delphine is a dancer and Solange is a composer, and they can’t wait to move to Paris to find artistic success. But first, they are asked by some traveling men to perform a musical number in the fair they’re throwing for Rochefort.
At the same time, Delphine and Solange’s ideal men are searching for them.
Some movies seem focused on creating a single emotion in their viewer. At a first glance, “The Young Girls of Rochefort”’s intent seems only on making the viewer feel happy. This can be seen in the visual style of the film.
Every shot and outfit contains bright colors that threaten to jump off the screen. Sets that contain a lot of white — like a music shop Solange loves — are beautiful in their simplicity. Even the less extravagant shots are feasts for your eyes.
This film’s music is often ecstatically happy. It has jazzy rhythms that help convey the energy and lust for life most of the film’s main characters feel.
But the songs in this film are more emotionally varied than you’d expect.
The characters in “The Young Girls of Rochefort” sing as much to express themselves as they do to advance the plot. They’re a lot like the songs in “Hamilton” because they feel like X-rays into the souls of the people singing them.
What is inside of them is often not as bright and colorful as their clothes.
Solange sings her worries over whether she will ever meet a man who she feels is her “dream man” again. Maxence, a sailor who frequents a café belonging to the twins’ mother, sings movingly of his belief he will someday meet his ideal woman. An older man named Simon Dame sings of his lost love, who he does not know has come to live in Rochefort.
The longing of these characters for romantic and professional fulfillment gives the film a subtle melancholy edge. It reminds the viewer the characters in this near fantastical world have real desires and pains. It also makes their ultimate triumphs feel well-earned.
“The Young Girls of Rochefort” is one of the sunniest films ever made. Every camera movement, song and dance step is almost a work of art in itself. If you want to smile and get ready for spring break, watch this movie.
Jesse Pasternack
