Lola

Demy's debut masterpiece, and clear precursor to THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, wonderfully combines the best kind of romance, that of the whole world, of life, with the best kind of realism, the realism of human beings struggling for the best and always susceptible to succumbing to their own weakness, their fatigue or their laziness. Demy's love of men and women, of the camera, of music, make him possibly the director with the greatest feeling for beauty, in every aspect of life and cinema.

An early Demy gem, it's a shame more people don't know who this guy is. This is beautifully shot by one of my favorite cinematographers, Coutard, and the B&W really goes with what is going on in the film. I didn't really identify with the protagonist but it didn't matter, this film had a lot going for it.

I generally don't care for slo-mo, but Lola contains what I think is easily the best use of the technique on film. I pretty much fell for the film after that sequence. The cinematography is beautiful and the interconnectedness doesn't seem too gimmicky.

A Demy classic. You can clearly see his trademarks. The interconnections between characters reminds me of Demoiselles. The music by Legrand bares much assemblance to Parapluies. But still this is very much its own. It doesn't go for a sad or a happy ending, but rely on its own terms. HIghly recommendable for Demy or New Wave fans.

A gentle introduction to Demy's small and self-contained world of near-fatalistic coincidence. I love this film's evocation of slow dreary days. Its interconnected circles of affection, requited or otherwise, are wistful but not lacking a sense of humor.

Lovely. The film has an intriguing new wave-iness about it, I believe in great part of cinematographer Coutard (who worked on many of the landmark movies by Godard and Truffaut). You never quite know where the story is going to go next. The fact that it was originally supposed to be a musical, and the heavy interconnectedness of the characters, makes this a precursor to Rochefort, although I actually prefer Lola. Funny, sad, gentle and real. The fair scene in particular is magnificent.

Jacques Demy's directorial debut feels like a musical without any nondiegetic songs. It's dedicated to Max Ophüls, which feels appropriate. The film's kind of a giant elegant circle of human connections.

This was a real delight that peaked with the touching slow motion scene at the fair, and that ended on an impressive, and somewhat surprising note. Demy's camera is in constant motion here, a fitting tribute to Ophuls--even if Demy's shots don't consistently carry the density one finds in Ophuls. The film is filled with unequal or unrequited relationships, which only serves to highlight the beauty of two people successfully coming together in love.

A very sweet movie that maybe didn't hit me as hard as it did others. But it's positives are plentiful and obvious. A small delight.

The third act of this film was so impactful in its elegance and simplicity that it has had lingering effects for a week now. I should have watched this before first seeing Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

A beautiful film that does a wonderful job of interconnecting its characters to tell some stories about love. The contrast between the stories is what makes this work, as you see various types of love gained and lost, in different circumstances and without a clean cut ending. A little more depth to the relationships wouldn't have hurt, but it works very well as is.

Cool French style in unique black-and-white, with a stunning slow-motion sequence and a wonderful musical sequence; so pretty much your typical, great French New Wave film.

Flawless film with a compelling story.

# 344

There's a lot I liked about this stylish flick; and a lot I didn't, particularly the way it tries to normalize fornication. Had a notable soundtrack.

A charming, poetic mix of naturalism and movie fantasy thanks to Coutard's fluid (almost non-stop) camera akin to Max Ophuls, the jazzy score by Michel Legrand, and Demy's laid back direction.

A love pentagon? The film was lit quite strangely with almost every inside daytime scene having absurd amounts of daylight coming through the windows - they looked completely white at times! At times it looks quite fetching, at times absolutely beautiful, though I must confess that by the end of the film I was starting to tire of it a bit. The whole last half hour is great including a breathtaking bit of slow motion and a really good ending.

411

Star Rating: ★★★★1/2

Reflects. (the first love constantly reflected in the facets of space-time. couple mother daughter. (The mother-daughter couple could be what Lola was before and what would be after)... potagonists, replicas, desires... everything is reflect

Beautiful collection of characters so close of finding true happiness -- they arrive seconds later, miss the encounter of their lives by some inches. It's 15 yrs or so after WWII and everyone seems lost, bored, melancholic, desperate to leave Nantes. Roland meets Cecile again, his childhood love, but she still loves Michel, father of her son who left yrs ago. A teen Cecile falls for 'old' Cecile's steady client, an American sailor. Nothing happens, until everything does. You wait or leave.

Not as song-and-dance-filled as the other Demy movies I've seen (not necessarily a bad thing). I loved the interconnectedness of this world, even when it started to border on silly. A lot of nice bits for film school wonks, and a simple story for everyone else.

A film about the search for happiness and love. The characters share the same heartbreak but never meet each other which made it a good story but it was predictable at the end.

Michel.. My god, this story makes Umbrellas even more brillant.

We've been over my dislike of interconnections before. We've been over my dislike of Demy's actual camera work as well. Without his colors or his muse the film ends up feeling like some odd amalgam of early hollywood and the new wave and it fails. The camera never stops moving for a second in the entire film.

no colour or singing, but a complex network of unfulfilled romance. the way in which the coincidences piled up toward the end was great, almost fatalistic. nothing remarkable, but quite delightful.

O que sinto com Demy é que em toda sua filmografia só constam filmes excelentes, mas nunca fui capaz de taxar qualquer um deles como obra-prima, mesmo os seus tão falados musicais coloridos dos anos 60, aqui no seu primeiro filme não é diferente, nós vemos que estamos diante de um cineasta que tem total domínio do seu ofício mesmo em seu primeiro longa e que sabe se cercar de gente talentosa (Aimée, Coutard, Legrand, Cotret), mas não me convence ao todo. Box Obras-primas do Cinema Demy

A New Wave romance that works no small amount of magic with meager resources.

Beautifully filmed and portrays an array of emotions through the characters and their relationships. Would have appreciated less meandering, as one grows out of the new wave

Much more quintessentially Nouvelle Vague than Demy's later musicals (thanks at least in part to Raoul Coutard's cinematography), yet by comparison also less distinctive. Which is to say, he's far less intellectually rigorous than Godard, less probing and insightful than Rohmer, and slightly less infectious than Truffaut at his best (mostly via Leaud). Even here Demy can't quite suppress his musical instincts, which may explain why his sense of drama is so innately fluffy (albeit endearing).

I'm not crazy about the French New Wave, it's usually too self-conscious, distant and formal, but relatively speaking Lola is one of the nicer examples of it. It's smart and cute and not too full of itself. Still, as with other French films of that era, I had some trouble connecting with or caring about the characters. The stone-faced Marc Michel's typically heartless acting does not compare well to that of warm-blooded quadragenerian Elina Labourdette, even in her minor role.

434

Charming and likeable story of a series of unlikely coincidences built around a love triangle (or pentagon, I guess--there are five?) with a strong performance by Anouk Aimee. This is kind of a New Wave movie for people who are not completely sold on New Wave movies. It doesn't feel full of itself. It didn't blow me away or anything, but I liked it quite a bit and look forward to seeing more Demys in the future.

#453

Meh