Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Rose Riesen
New-York Institute of Technology
06/14/17
Introduction
While musicals are becoming increasingly disrupted in the world, with the exception of
India and its famous Bollywood shows, and still in some Broadway theaters, La La Land
has been the musical and artistic revelation of the year. With 203 wins and 243
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures Original Score and Original Score, Best
Achievement in Production Design), and 7 Golden Globes (Best Motion Picture - Musical
Screenplay, Best Original Song and Best Original Score). The movie was acclaimed by
Indeed, it is been a while since a musical was a masterpiece. The time of successful 50s
and 60s musicals such as Grease, West Side Story, Dirty Dancing, Singing in the Rain,
Mary Poppins and others is far. Only a few musicals were released in the past decades,
but without creating a timeless enthusiasm or increasing the international cinema. The
musical genre hadnt been renewed from a very long time, and the audience started to be
This is the third feature film written and directed by the young genius Damien Chazelle, to
whom we owe in particular the intense Whiplash (3 Oscars and a nomination in the
category Best Movie). This 32-year-old director, a new prodigy from Hollywood, was born
to a French father, Bertrand Chazelle, a mathematician and computer scientist who is one
of the pioneers of algorithmic geometry, and an American mother, Celia Martin, a writer. He
took the bet to recreate the musical genre successfully. Starring Emma Stone and Ryan
aspiring stars who are in love with one another, hides many tributes to the French culture.
it is obvious that the movie is inspired by old musical movies, more especially by French
old musical movies from the sixties and very more especially by Jacques Demys
musicals: Les Demoiselles de Rochefort and Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, both staring
Through this research paper, I will develop and analyze how Damien Chazelle was
inspired by French musicals from the sixties to create La La Land, an explosion in the
Cinema of the 21st Century, and which aspects we can find in each movies, how are they
related.
A tribute to Jacques Demys musicals
In interviews, Damien Chazelle readily evokes his passion for the filmography of Jacques
Demy, which he discovered as a teenager, with Les Parapluies de Cherbourg. "I was
transported, demolished, carried away, raised, all the states in which a movie can put you
in." That's when I realized that art could change a life , He told to W magazine in
December. He subsequently had the opportunity to further study his work at Harvard.
Demy, who himself commended to the Hollywood musicals by the presence on the screen
of George Chakiris, the famous Bernardo of West Side Story, and of course the legend
Gene Kelly, almost in his own role, alongside Catherine Deneuve and Franoise Dorlac.
The film enjoyed a great success, less than Demy's greatest movie: Peau d'ne, but a
movie that will mark generations and generations of moviegoers. A film that will please with
happiness and its happy end. But lets not forget the melancholy which flushes behind the
smiles, the stories of love missed by the hazards of life. Lets not forget either that Les
Demoiselles de Rochefort had to end very badly at the beginning. Jacques Demy had first
envisaged that Jacques Perrin would die crushed by the trucks of fairgrounds.
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg is a drama. it's sad. It is a fatalistic vision of youthful love,
passion destroyed by the society of time. The finale of La La Land, is apparently very
similar but revisited. Damien Chazelle refuses the total drama, he chooses the bitter sweet
Les Demoiselles de Rochefort is apparently much more joyful, danced ... but a few
moments of upset love are present, small touches of melancholy, especially at the end of
the film, which is very open. In fact, on the form, La La Land borrows more from the
Demoiselles, but on the bottom, it owes especially to Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, which
For the music of his film La La Land, the director Damien Chazelle was inspired by the
greatest composers. And Michel Legrand, who wrote every songs of Les Demoiselles de
Rochefort is one of them. Invited on Europe 1 Music Club, the French composer returned
to his recent encounter with the American director, a meeting he describes as "moving".
"A film that resembles you". "I wanted to make a film that resembles you," he told me. 'A
film that could have been made by you, in the colors of Jacques Demy and in the volumes
Make "a tribute film". The young American director, 60 years his junior, also told Michel
Legrand that after seeing twenty-three times Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, he had felt the
need to make "this homage film". Confidences that deeply moved the 85-year-old
But if we can judge a film at its opening scene, then we are in front of a masterpiece: a
masterful shot, in the heart of the Los Angeles corks, in which the drivers turn into dancers
in front of a twirling camera. A scene which certainly echoes with Les Demoiselles de
Rochefort opening scene, an amazing scene where Michel Legrands music accompanied
La La Land (2017)
a musical, the first common point shared by these two films from a visual point of view is
the bright colors. In the first, we have some alleys where apple green and fuchsia clash
each other and nights where the sky embraces the blue light of the streetlights. In the
second, technicolor is celebrated at the level of costumes, especially the ladies' short
robes, which are not necessarily united, as long as they are so striking to attract our
attention. The argument is also valid for La La Land which, besides its sunsets, too
beautiful to be true, offers us a real orgy of colors in almost every scene. Mia's outfits are
always united and all have a very classic style. Moreover, because of these neutral cuts
and the natural shades of clothing, if it were not for the (very restricted) use of technology,
it would be difficult to say with certainty when the film is located in time.
Mia's dress in La La Land is reminiscent of the one worn by Solange, Delphine or their
mother Yvonne in Les Demoiselles de Rochefort. A color that represents joy, life and
This festive atmosphere pulsates the first half of La La Land, especially through Emma
Stone, who turns out to be a dancer and singer as playful as it is moving in her strongest
scenes. Damien Chazelle pushes the style exercise to the end with a beautiful and fun tap
dance between her and Ryan Gosling, which seals the mutual attraction between their
characters, bathed in the Californian sunrise. We also think of the tap dance scene
performed by Gene Kelly in Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, although Hollywood also took a
For his part, Sebastian is as attached to the golden age of jazz as his creator, Damien
Chazelle, mourning the closure of an iconic jazz club in Los Angeles. For all that, La La
In La La Land, Emma Stone fights for her work as an actress to be recognized. We learn
that this passion comes from her aunt, herself an actress, who resided in Paris a part of
her life. When the young woman decides to stop the castings for insignificant, too
humiliating roles, she tries to write her own one-woman-show, where she recounts her
It is a film project in the French capital that makes take off her career. At the end of the
film, with painted or cardboard decorations, Damien Chazelle gives life to Paris with his
American eyes. The city is reduced to its center, around the Seine, clings to its most
Paris is shown as the world cultural center, where cinema and jazz still have their nobility,
flourishing in small confidential and prized clubs. Without being realistic, this vision of Paris
has the merit of making people dream, and to recall that the United States may be the
world's foremost cultural power, France has not finished making them fantasize.
In most of musicals movies, songs can simply replace language, but in Demys &
Chazelle's & Hurwitzs movies (La La Land), one goes to the extreme since they take up a
The music and the the arts are also integrated into the story with Sebastian (Ryan Gosling)
in La La Land who dreams of making a career as a pianist and Mia (Emma Stone) on
(Catherine Deneuve) both plan to go to Paris to shine on stage: the first is a composer (on
As for the choreography, the tone is given in the two films directly in the introduction.
It is undeniable that Chazelle shows here a great choreographic virtuosity, his camera
forming a dizzy trio with its two protagonists. The twirling sequences follow each other
In Demys movie (Les demoiselles de Rochefort), the artists arrive at the port and leave
their trucks. We see them stretching out as if they were emerging from a long sleep and
starting to invade the area for the weekend by performing dance steps that seem
spontaneous and choreographed. We see the same kind of opening in Chazelle with the
people who emerge from their inertia caused by a traffic jam and stretch themselves by
dancing together.
And both case, the viewer assists to a number of tap dances from the main characters.
Finally, it should be noted that in both films, jazz music dominates and some notes or
agreements literally make a real leap from 1967 to 2017. The compositions of Justin
Hurwitz delights jazz fans as the quality of interpretation of the two stars Hollywood.
The narrative
The couple is obviously the leitmotive of these three movies. In Les Parapluies de
Cherbourg, it is a drama, since we are facing an impossible love and a long break divided
into three acts: departure absence and return. At the contrary, in Les Demoiselles de
Rochefort, it is all about hope, positivism and love, through the several relationships
presented to the viewer. Each couple has their own song and all of them are looking for
ideal and perfect love. In La La Land, there a perfect mix and juxtaposition between the
two French musicals: the action is separated into paintings, to the rhythm of the seasons
(it begins during the winter and ends five years later at the same period). The viewer can
see Mia and Sebastiens love flourish and wilt, through time. These are all the trials that
they have to pass that will be right and if the final is rather sad, it is a parallel reality in
return.
Artists couples:
between two artists. In Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, we had Solange the musician and
Andy the pianist or Maxence the painter and Delphine the dancer. In La La Land, we have
Mia the actress and Sebastian the pianist. In both films, we meet passionate characters
Mia and Sebastian are undoubtedly two great dreamers in La La Land. Sebastian wants to
open his jazz club in order to continue this musical genre of which he is a fan since
childhood while Mia wants to get her first role. The latter will also aspire to a passionate
love life. In Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, Solange and Delphine want to become
confirmed musicians and dancers in Paris while dreaming of meeting their masculine ideal.
Maxence, on the other hand, is looking for his feminine ideal, just like Andy. Maxence in
Les Demoiselles de Rochefort and Sebastian in La La Land both seem to be looking for
Uncertain love:
In Les Parapluies de Cherbourg and La La Land, Genevieve and Guy, Mia and Sebastian
will find it difficult to live their love with distance. Their relationship, although so well started
and so passionate, will then be the theater of a painful choice between career and love life.
Colors
The celebration of life, art and love is the main point in both movies, La La Land and Les
Demoiselles de Rochefort.
Colors appears to be a symbol and a sign of the representation of joy and happiness in
both movies. Yellow seems to be the main color in the two musicals: Mias yellow dress is,
for sure, a connection to Solanges yellow dress in Les Demoiselles de Rochefort. Yellow,
The colors are bright and vivid, the dresses of Mia's friends evoke the outfits of the
Demoiselles de Rochefort fairgrounds artists, the colorful city of Rochefort echoes to Los
The use of white is also very important and meaningful: as a symbol of purity and true
love, Mia and Sebastien in La La Land, and Solange and Andy in Les Demoiselles de
Rochefort are wearing white clothes when declaring their love to each other.
It is inspired by the French musicals of the 1960s that Damien Chazelle has actually
managed to modernize the musicals movies, yet trivialized over the last 15 years and
In 2017, he marks the revival of musicals, mixing music and cinema perfectly, with a duet
We find the genius of Jacques Demy in every little detail of the films, through the music,
very clearly echoing the compositions of Michel Legrand, through the bright colors
highlighted with the clothes of the characters but also the colors of Los Angeles And
landscapes. The relationships between the characters are also very similar, seeking the
fulfillment of love through passion and art. Art being an irrefutable remedy for every drama
of life.
and Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, are fully assumed and claimed by Damien Chazelle, La
La Land which can practically be regarded as a homage film, to those comedies that have
made the world dream and dance in the 1960s and up to today.
The risk is however to fall in a scenario too unconventional, thus not in phase with todays
cinema. But the effect is the contrary, La La Land becomes modern thanks to its
inspirations.
It is therefore possible and conceivable that La La Land should be the beginning of a long
series of successful new musicals, with the beauty of the art put forward for amazing
results. All that grace and in tribute to the French musical comedies of the years 1960 of
Lexy Perez (2017). 'La La Land Producer, Director Defend Ending as an Alternative
The article is an analysis of the end of the movie La La Land, how to mix sadness and
Hunter Harris (2016). La La Lands Ending Reveals the Movies True Romance.
Vulture website.
The article is a global analysis of the movie La La Land, highlighting how to accept and
The article is highlighting the global common aspects between La La Land, Les
Michel Legrands Interview (2017). "La La Land" : "Les couleurs de Jacques Demy,
Clarisse Loughrey (2017). La La Land interview: Damien Chazelle on the death and
An interview of Damien Chazelle, on how he used modernity and musicals from the sixties
to create La La Land.
Jon Favreau interview of Damien Chazelle (2016). Manufacturing Intellect Youtube
Channel.
A 30 minutes interview of Damien Chazelle on his movie and his own analysis and
perception of it.
An Interview from the WSJ Cafe about the inside story of working with Emma Stone and
Ryan Gosling.
Monica Castillo (2017). Three Classic Musical Scenes Evoked by La La Land. New
York Times.
The article is comparing and analyzing the similitudes between old musicals and La La
Land.
An article and a video about the music and movie references in La La Land.
An article highlighting the power of Les Demoiselles de Rochefort and its strength.