Film Screening: Cinémélodie—Les Demoiselles de Rochefort

Announcing our 2025/2026 music-themed film series, “Cinémélodie!

To kick off this musical and cinematographic journey, we are thrilled to present Jacques Demy’s 1967 French musical comedy Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (The Young Girls of Rochefort).

Widely considered one of the best musicals of all time, the film follows fraternal twin sisters Delphine and Solange (played by real-life sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac) on their quest for love.

Guests will enjoy a complimentary glass of Louis Jadot Bourgogne and a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to the Sofitel Magnificent Mile’s très chic Le Bar.

Doors at 6:00 PM for a complimentary glass of wine. Program at 6:30. Please enter via 54 W Chicago Ave. Non-alcoholic options will be available.

About the Director

Jacques Demy

Jacques Demy was a French director, screenwriter and lyricist. He appeared at the height of the French New Wave alongside contemporaries like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. Demy’s films are celebrated for their visual style, which drew upon diverse sources such as classic Hollywood musicals, the plein-air realism of his French New Wave colleagues, fairy tales, jazz, Japanese manga, and the opera. His films contain overlapping continuity (i.e., characters cross over from film to film), lush musical scores (typically composed by Michel Legrand) and motifs like teenage love, labor rights, chance encounters, incest, and the intersection between dreams and reality. He was married to Agnès Varda, another prominent director of the French New Wave. Demy is best known for the two musicals he directed in the mid-1960s: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967).

About the Presenter

Charles Coleman

Charles Coleman is the Film Program Director of the Facets Film Forum, which specializes in the presentation of new and classic foreign films, as well as independent cinema. He has taught film courses at the University of Chicago and his experience also includes more than twenty years in film programming and related fields. He is responsible for bringing to Chicago rare, one-of-a-kind screenings, has curated retrospective of acclaimed filmmakers, and seeks out the most recent films by up-and-coming directors. He has also given lectures at the Chicago Public Library and the Art Institute, keeps up on the latest trends, key filmmakers, as well as the newest developments from festivals and programs from around the world.