{ "id": "epdh2b3g78", "slug": "the-young-girls-of-rochefort", "title": "The Young Girls of Rochefort", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music", "label": "Musical and music films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1930s-to-1960s", "label": "Musical films of the 1930s to 1960s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1930s-to-1960s" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (The Young Girls of Rochefort) is Jacques Demy's 1967 French musical, music by Michel Legrand, starring Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac as twin sisters seeking love in Rochefort; released 8 March 1967, Oscar-nominated score.", "snippet": "Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (The Young Girls of Rochefort) is Jacques Demy's 1967 French musical, music by Michel Legrand, starring Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac as twin sisters seeking love in Rochefort; released 8 March 1967, Oscar-nominated score.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1930s-to-1960s", "markdown": "# The Young Girls of Rochefort\n\n**The Young Girls of Rochefort** (French: *Les Demoiselles de Rochefort*) is a 1967 French musical film written and directed by [Jacques Demy](https://www.edgepedia.org/jacques-demy), with music by [Michel Legrand](https://www.edgepedia.org/michel-legrand), about twin sisters who teach dance and music in the port town of Rochefort and each search for love during a weekend fair. It was Demy's follow-up to *The Umbrellas of Cherbourg* (1964) and is a [Technicolor](https://www.edgepedia.org/technicolor) homage to the classic Hollywood musical.[1](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification?visa=31865) • [2](https://www.criterion.com/films/28615-the-young-girls-of-rochefort)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director and writer | Jacques Demy (1931–1990), who wrote the scenario, dialogue, and lyrics for all the songs[3](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/48037.html) |\n| Music | Michel Legrand (1932–2019), who composed and conducted the score[3](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/48037.html) |\n| Filming | 31 May to 27 August 1966, on location in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime[4](https://www.ville-rochefort.fr/node/35513/latest) |\n| French release | Visa dated 3 March 1967; theatrical release 8 March 1967; official duration 128 minutes[1](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification?visa=31865) |\n| Principal cast | Catherine Deneuve (Delphine), Françoise Dorléac (Solange), Danielle Darrieux (Yvonne), Jacques Perrin (Maxence), Gene Kelly (Andy Miller), Michel Piccoli (Simon Dame), George Chakiris (Etienne)[3](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/48037.html) |\n| Production companies | Parc Film and Madeleine Films (Paris); producers Mag Bodard and Gilbert de Goldschmidt[3](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/48037.html) • [4](https://www.ville-rochefort.fr/node/35513/latest) |\n| Recognition | Academy Award nomination for Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture (1969)[5](https://europeanscreen.com/titles/the-young-girls-of-rochefort/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and style\n\nDelphine and Solange Garnier are 25-year-old twins: Delphine, the blonde, gives dance lessons, and Solange, the redhead, teaches music.[8](https://www.justwatch.com/fr/film/the-young-girls-of-rochefort) Both dream of love and of leaving their quiet seaside town. When a fair brings sailors, painters, musicians, and carnival workers to Rochefort, a web of near-misses keeps the right people tantalizingly close without their realizing it.[9](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-young-girls-of-rochefort) Their mother, Yvonne, runs a café; the twins are hired as carnival singers, Solange falls for an American musician, and Delphine leaves her boyfriend to search the town for her ideal man.[10](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_young_girls_of_rochefort)\n\nDemy described the film's purpose in musical terms: \"The plot and the storyline matter less to me than the feelings I wanted to express through the songs, the dialogue, the dance. I wanted to make a film that gives a feeling of freedom. A film about joy that sends you out of the theater with a confidence in life that gives you the strength to move mountains.\"[6](https://www.premiersplans.org/fr/film/les-demoiselles-de-rochefort) Critics have noted that beneath the bright surface runs a somber undercurrent of missed connections that lingers even when love triumphs.[10](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_young_girls_of_rochefort)\n\nThe film follows the conventions of the Hollywood musical closely: alternating spoken and sung or danced sequences, opening and closing with a medley, lip-syncing, and flamboyant color as a mode of expression. The number *Chanson d'un jour d'été* pays direct homage to [George Cukor](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-cukor)'s *Gentlemen Prefer Blondes* (1953) through the sisters' choreography, the contrast of their hair color, and their red sequined dresses; Maen's choreography recalls [Jerome Robbins](https://www.edgepedia.org/jerome-robbins)'s work on *West Side Story*, and the casting of [George Chakiris](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-chakiris), Bernardo in that film, reinforces the reference.[11](https://artsandculture.google.com/story/the-young-girls-of-rochefort-by-jacques-demy-cahiers-du-cinema/tgWBw7roL2paAw?hl=en)\n\n## Production and creative team\n\nDemy and Legrand first met during the shooting of *Lola* (1961), one of the early films of the [French New Wave](https://www.edgepedia.org/french-new-wave). Their collaboration produced the sung-through *The Umbrellas of Cherbourg*, which won the [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor) at Cannes, and then *Les Demoiselles de Rochefort*, which Demy conceived as a classical French musical giving a large place to dance and ballets.[6](https://www.premiersplans.org/fr/film/les-demoiselles-de-rochefort) Demy worked for two years on the film's musical construction with Legrand, taking joy as the guiding thread.[7](https://www.ville-rochefort.fr/60-ans-du-tournage-les-demoiselles-de-rochefort)\n\nThe technical crew included Ghislain Cloquet as cinematographer, Bernard Evein as production designer, Jacqueline Moreau as costume designer, and [Jean Hamon](https://www.edgepedia.org/jean-hamon) as editor; Norman Maen choreographed five ballets for the film.[3](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/48037.html) • [4](https://www.ville-rochefort.fr/node/35513/latest) Demy cast [Catherine Deneuve](https://www.edgepedia.org/catherine-deneuve) as Delphine alongside her real-life sister [Françoise Dorléac](https://www.edgepedia.org/francoise-dorleac) (1942–1967) as Solange, and surrounded them with Gene Kelly (1912–1996), Danielle Darrieux (1917–2017), an actress for whom Demy felt deep admiration, Michel Piccoli (1925–2020), Jacques Perrin (1941–2022), George Chakiris, and Grover Dale.[7](https://www.ville-rochefort.fr/60-ans-du-tournage-les-demoiselles-de-rochefort)\n\n## Music\n\nLegrand's score mixes jazz, swing, and the American musical idiom; the hybridization of operetta, jazz, and the Hollywood musical has been described as helping define a distinctive French film-musical language.[12](https://publications-prairial.fr/emergences/index.php?id=532) The jazz, imbued with pop and samba, has been called a role apart in the history of cinema, and the songs are set to lyrics in alexandrines written by Demy.[13](https://www.francetvpro.fr/contenu-de-presse/27214) The score earned the film its Academy Award nomination for Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture.[5](https://europeanscreen.com/titles/the-young-girls-of-rochefort/)\n\n## Filming in Rochefort\n\nDemy chose Rochefort for its particular architecture, scouting the town accompanied by [Agnès Varda](https://www.edgepedia.org/agnes-varda) and Bernard Evein.[4](https://www.ville-rochefort.fr/node/35513/latest) • [7](https://www.ville-rochefort.fr/60-ans-du-tournage-les-demoiselles-de-rochefort) Filming ran from 31 May to 27 August 1966, and the town's residents took part as extras, skipping school or work to appear in the [CinemaScope](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinemascope) production.[4](https://www.ville-rochefort.fr/node/35513/latest) Among the locations, a music shop was built into a corner of the Bourse du commerce at the angle of the rue de l'Arsenal and the rue Jean Jaurès, where a scene was shot on the first day of summer.[14](https://www.rochefort-ocean.com/organiser/balades-randos/tous-les-itineraires-a-pied-et-a-velo/les-demoiselles-de-rochefort-lieux-de-tournage-326613) The town has kept the film in its public memory: the municipal archives hold photographs, posters, magazines, records, and correspondence related to the shoot, and the city marked the 60th anniversary of the filming in 2026.[15](https://www.ville-rochefort.fr/sites/default/files/Mediatheque/Services/Culture/service%20patrimoine/FOCUS%20demoiselles%202026.pdf?time=1769665017) • [7](https://www.ville-rochefort.fr/60-ans-du-tournage-les-demoiselles-de-rochefort)\n\n## Reception and legacy\n\nThe film was released in France on 8 March 1967 under its original title; its American title is *The Young Girls of Rochefort*.[1](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification?visa=31865) • [14](https://www.rochefort-ocean.com/organiser/balades-randos/tous-les-itineraires-a-pied-et-a-velo/les-demoiselles-de-rochefort-lieux-de-tournage-326613) Françoise Dorléac died in a car accident shortly after its release, giving the sisters' performances a retrospective poignancy.[5](https://europeanscreen.com/titles/the-young-girls-of-rochefort/) On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 98% Tomatometer rating from 45 reviews, with a critics' consensus that it \"pays colorful homage to classic Hollywood musicals while earning its own emotionally affecting place of honor in the genre.\"[10](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_young_girls_of_rochefort)\n\n**Later tributes.** Agnès Varda, Demy's widow, honored him with the 1993 documentary *The Young Girls Turn 25*, made around the 25th anniversary of the shoot, and included it among the supplements of the Criterion Collection edition.[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/28615-the-young-girls-of-rochefort) The film's influence reaches later Hollywood: [Damien Chazelle](https://www.edgepedia.org/damien-chazelle)'s *La La Land* openly draws on it.[5](https://europeanscreen.com/titles/the-young-girls-of-rochefort/) A 2K digital restoration with a 5.1 surround soundtrack was issued by the Criterion Collection (Spine #717).[2](https://www.criterion.com/films/28615-the-young-girls-of-rochefort) Demy set both *The Umbrellas of Cherbourg* and *Les Demoiselles de Rochefort* in ports, a setting the film historian Matthieu Orléan, curator of the 2013 Cinémathèque française exhibition \"Le Monde enchanté de Jacques Demy,\" connects to the director's lifelong attachment to his native Nantes as a place of departure and adventure.[16](https://www.lemonde.fr/m-perso/article/2025/01/19/vous-aimez-jacques-demy-vous-aimerez-nantes_6504827_4497916.html)\n\n## References\n\n1. [LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT, fiche œuvre, CNC (visa 31865)](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification?visa=31865)\n2. [The Young Girls of Rochefort, The Criterion Collection](https://www.criterion.com/films/28615-the-young-girls-of-rochefort)\n3. [Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (Jacques Demy, 1966), La Cinémathèque française](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/48037.html)\n4. [Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, Ville de Rochefort](https://www.ville-rochefort.fr/node/35513/latest)\n5. [The Young Girls of Rochefort, European Screen](https://europeanscreen.com/titles/the-young-girls-of-rochefort/)\n6. [Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, Festival Premiers Plans d'Angers](https://www.premiersplans.org/fr/film/les-demoiselles-de-rochefort)\n7. [60 ans du tournage \"Les Demoiselles de Rochefort\", Ville de Rochefort](https://www.ville-rochefort.fr/60-ans-du-tournage-les-demoiselles-de-rochefort)\n8. [Les Demoiselles de Rochefort en streaming, JustWatch France](https://www.justwatch.com/fr/film/the-young-girls-of-rochefort)\n9. [The Young Girls of Rochefort streaming, JustWatch US](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-young-girls-of-rochefort)\n10. [The Young Girls of Rochefort, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_young_girls_of_rochefort)\n11. [The Young Girls of Rochefort by Jacques Demy, Cahiers du cinéma / Google Arts & Culture](https://artsandculture.google.com/story/the-young-girls-of-rochefort-by-jacques-demy-cahiers-du-cinema/tgWBw7roL2paAw?hl=en)\n12. [Unité musico-dramaturgique et développement thématique dans le cinéma de Jacques Demy et Michel Legrand, Émergences](https://publications-prairial.fr/emergences/index.php?id=532)\n13. [Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, FranceTvPro](https://www.francetvpro.fr/contenu-de-presse/27214)\n14. [Les Demoiselles de Rochefort : lieux de tournage, Office de Tourisme de Rochefort Océan](https://www.rochefort-ocean.com/organiser/balades-randos/tous-les-itineraires-a-pied-et-a-velo/les-demoiselles-de-rochefort-lieux-de-tournage-326613)\n15. [En suivant le fil de l'histoire, Ville de Rochefort (PDF)](https://www.ville-rochefort.fr/sites/default/files/Mediatheque/Services/Culture/service%20patrimoine/FOCUS%20demoiselles%202026.pdf?time=1769665017)\n16. [Vous aimez Jacques Demy, vous aimerez Nantes, Le Monde](https://www.lemonde.fr/m-perso/article/2025/01/19/vous-aimez-jacques-demy-vous-aimerez-nantes_6504827_4497916.html)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Musical and music films (individual works) › Musical films of the 1930s to 1960s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-young-girls-of-rochefort", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-young-girls-of-rochefort.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The Young Girls of Rochefort\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-young-girls-of-rochefort. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Young Girls of Rochefort](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-young-girls-of-rochefort)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-young-girls-of-rochefort](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-young-girls-of-rochefort). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Young Girls of Rochefort\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-young-girls-of-rochefort. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Les Demoiselles de Rochefort is Jacques Demy's 1967 French musical, music by Michel Legrand, starring Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac as twin sisters seeking love in Rochefort; released 8 March 1967, Oscar-nominated score." }