Jacques Demy’s The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) is the ultimate cinematic dessert—a candy-colored, jazz-infused masterpiece that stands as one of the most joyful expressions of the French New Wave. While its predecessor, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg , was a "sung-through" tragedy of lost love, Rochefort is its exuberant, optimistic twin.
In an era of cynical reboots and grey superhero blockbusters, feels like a revolutionary act. It insists that beauty is not frivolous, that melody is not escapism, and that a twin sister’s smile is worth capturing in the highest possible definition.
The Criterion edition presents the film in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 (widescreen CinemaScope) on Blu-ray with a restored 4K digital transfer supervised by cinematographer Ghislain Cloquet. The audio is an uncompressed monaural soundtrack (LPCM 1.0). Key features include:
The Criterion Collection edition of Jacques Demy's The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)
The Criterion Collection release of features a key critical piece titled "The Young Girls of Rochefort: Not the Same Old Song and Dance" , an essay by renowned critic Jonathan Rosenbaum .
The film can also be streamed on The Criterion Channel for subscribers.
Demy and cinematographer Ghislain Cloquet wrap Rochefort in saturated primary colors—turquoise, cherry red, lemon yellow—turning streets, cafés, and storefronts into the stage set of an idealized French port town. The production design and costumes (notably by Magali Clément) treat color as character: each hue signals romantic possibility or emotional tone. Wide, theatrical framing and perfectly composed tableaux let scenes breathe, while Gene Kelly’s cameo sequences bring a Hollywood gloss without stealing the film’s French identity.