Set over the course of a single weekend in the seaside port town of Rochefort, France, the narrative follows twin sisters Delphine and Solange Garnier.
The plot is a masterclass in the musical-chairs game of missed connections and fleeting encounters. Twin sisters Delphine (Catherine Deneuve) and Solange (Françoise Dorléac)—played by real-life sisters, a fact that lends the film an irresistible authenticity and warmth—yearn for the lights and love of Paris. As a fair arrives in their town square, their lives become intertwined with a cast of unforgettable characters: a roguish sailor and painter named Maxence (Jacques Perrin) who has sketched his "feminine ideal," a woman he has never met but who lives only blocks away; a pair of carnivals workers played by West Side Story 's George Chakiris and Grover Dale; and, most delightfully, a weary Parisian composer named Andy, played by none other than the King of Hollywood musicals himself, Gene Kelly. The Young Girls of Rochefort -1967- Criterion -...
Demy uses this to heighten the sense of "yearning and loss" that lurks beneath the Technicolor surface. The town is filled with characters looking for their "ideal," often painted or imagined, leading to a satisfyingly complex finale where all threads are finally woven together. The Criterion Collection Treatment Set over the course of a single weekend