Parapluies de Cherbourg: It "le sucks"

I enjoy watching foreign films and when I received "Parapluies de Cherbourg" (or "Umbrellas of Cherbourg") from Netflix, I was doubly pleased to find out it was a musical--Gigi, Brigadoon, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers--love them. My expectations, alas, dithered away as I watched and listened with confusion to the first scene, set in a gas station. The dialogue was performed in a style called "recitative"--no rhyming, no particular standard cadence. So very strange. I couldn't get into it--I'm used to the grand MGM-style theatrical performances filmed by US directors with lavish sets, rows of gaily dressed chorus girls, and catchy tunes. I was wondering why on earth this came up in my recommendations & I looked it up online to find out the damn thing won the Palm D'or @ Cannes in 1964 (63?). WTF? My, how tastes have so greatly changed.