Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) (1964)

Winner of Cannes Film Festival
Nominated for Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Foreign Films

My thoughts ...

-- Great music (not an easy feat for 1.5 hr) ... the French language + singing sounds especially nice in this musical ... 
a great point
(i) luckily, unlike Broadway, they do NOT sudddenly break into dance items, hee hee ... 

-- Deceptively simple plot, but it is so well executed that you feel for the characters ... there are light hearted moments (credit to the director/or scriptwriter for having some great sense of humor ... HA HA HA) ... and there are heart wrenching moments (credit to them for NOT becoming over dramatic, unlike some films) ... Yet, the realism of the story makes the audience feel for them, think what they would have done and of course, hurt at times ...

the ending is particularly GREAT, isnt that what life all about?! ... LIFE IS NOT SO SIMPLE ... 

Several thought provoking scenes ...
(i) Choices in life (e.g., the female protagonist? the male protagonist? the two supporting male and female?! etc)
(ii) The choice of "umbrellas" (i.e., as shelters) and the many depiction of changing seasons/weathers (i.e., the environment) ... analogy of life?! analogy of marriage/love? etc
(iii) The choice of "Carmen" ... (giving it a new meaning?! giving it some excuses?!)
(iv) The two kids have the same name ... 
(v) THE ENDING SCENE ... wow ... The line delivered by the petrol man, "Super or Ordinaire"! ...

-- Nice choreography, esp the beginning rain + umbrella scenes ... Even the opening credits have some "umbrella" amidst their words ...

Conclusion
Highly recommended.