Hilarious episode with Edina arranging a come-back concert for a French screen legend, and favourite of Saffron's, who, it turns out, is utterly mad. Jeanne Durand can speak, but when she "sings" no sound is produced. Durand believes that her adoring audience hears her.
Jeanne Durand is referred to as one of the "singing umbrellas of Cherbourg". There is actually a French musical film, made in 1964, called "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg)", although Jeanne Durand is a fictional character so was not actually in the film. The film is entirely sung-through with the dialog taking the form of recitative. Most of the actors' singing was dubbed, however. The brilliant joke in this episode is that Jeanne Durand's singing was dubbed and Edina is unaware of this very important fact. I like to think that Saffron knew and decided not to clue Edina in. Jeanne produces no sound when she sings because when she "sang" in the movie she was lip-synching. Jeanne is delusional and believes that when she mimes singing, people will hear her sing, just as they did in 1964.
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