The Young Girls Of Rochefort -1967- Criterion -... Jun 2026

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.

A lively carnival arrives in town, bringing unexpected romance, dancing, and intrigue, including a subplot involving a local painter (Jacques Perrin) and a darkly humorous storyline about a murderer. The Young Girls of Rochefort -1967- Criterion -...

Released in 1967, Jacques Demy’s The Young Girls of Rochefort ( Les Demoiselles de Rochefort ) is a dazzling, candy-colored anomaly in the landscape of 1960s French cinema—a joyful, high-energy homage to the Hollywood studio musical, perfected by the French New Wave. While its predecessor, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), was a melancholic opera of lost love, Rochefort is an explosion of technicolor optimism, featuring an iconic jazz-pop score by Michel Legrand and a sparkling cast led by real-life sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac. The Criterion Collection release (Blu-ray #742) has helped solidify its reputation as a masterpiece of "delirious being," a film that prioritizes pure cinematic joy and choreographed motion over conventional narrative stakes. The Vision of Jacques Demy and Michel Legrand The plot is a masterclass in the musical-chairs

For decades, The Young Girls of Rochefort circulated in muddy, faded prints that did justice neither to the cinematography nor to Michel Legrand’s legendary score. The release changed the game. A lively carnival arrives in town, bringing unexpected

The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967): Jacques Demy’s Pastel Masterpiece Joins the Criterion Collection

To solidify this transatlantic bridge, Demy famously cast Gene Kelly himself as Andy Miller, an American composer visiting Rochefort. Kelly’s presence brings an instant, foundational credibility to the film’s choreography. Watching Kelly dance through the streets of France in a crisp white suit, exuding the same effortless athletic grace he displayed in An American in Paris , bridges the gap between classic Hollywood mythos and European art-house cinema.

The Criterion Collection's release of The Young Girls of Rochefort (available both individually and as part of the essential The Essential Jacques Demy box set) is a masterclass in film preservation.