Les Enfants du Paradis (1945)
(Children of Paradise)
Country: FR
Technical: bw 189m
Director: Marcel Carné
Cast: Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, Maria Casarès, Marcel Herrand, Louis Salou
Synopsis:
Against the backdrop of the Boulevard du Crime, a popular theatre district in 1820s Paris, a free-spirited beauty captivates a notable actor of generous nature, a criminal dandy with ambitions as a writer, and a Count of refined tastes. However, she keeps a place in her heart alone for a romantic mime artist.
Review:
The pinnacle of the Carné-Prévert partnership is two films rolled into one, at once a paean to the theatre, all types of theatre, and an illustration of how life and art intertwine. Begun shortly after the Allies landed in Italy, and released almost a year after the liberation of Paris, the film enshrines all the qualities of 30s French cinema - qualities of performance, depth of characterisation and refinement of mise-en-scène - which would soon lead to the stagnation of the 1950s. Taken on its own terms, each segment consists of three or four set pieces that by turns foreground comedy, drama or that peculiar brand of poetic realism that typified the output of Carné-Prévert and permitted them to end their film with an inconclusive crowd scene. Note: the international release title is in fact a misnomer based on an unimaginative translation of 'le paradis', which refers to the gods (i.e. the cheap seats), where Prévert's sympathies lay.
(Children of Paradise)
Country: FR
Technical: bw 189m
Director: Marcel Carné
Cast: Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, Maria Casarès, Marcel Herrand, Louis Salou
Synopsis:
Against the backdrop of the Boulevard du Crime, a popular theatre district in 1820s Paris, a free-spirited beauty captivates a notable actor of generous nature, a criminal dandy with ambitions as a writer, and a Count of refined tastes. However, she keeps a place in her heart alone for a romantic mime artist.
Review:
The pinnacle of the Carné-Prévert partnership is two films rolled into one, at once a paean to the theatre, all types of theatre, and an illustration of how life and art intertwine. Begun shortly after the Allies landed in Italy, and released almost a year after the liberation of Paris, the film enshrines all the qualities of 30s French cinema - qualities of performance, depth of characterisation and refinement of mise-en-scène - which would soon lead to the stagnation of the 1950s. Taken on its own terms, each segment consists of three or four set pieces that by turns foreground comedy, drama or that peculiar brand of poetic realism that typified the output of Carné-Prévert and permitted them to end their film with an inconclusive crowd scene. Note: the international release title is in fact a misnomer based on an unimaginative translation of 'le paradis', which refers to the gods (i.e. the cheap seats), where Prévert's sympathies lay.
(Children of Paradise)
Country: FR
Technical: bw 189m
Director: Marcel Carné
Cast: Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, Maria Casarès, Marcel Herrand, Louis Salou
Synopsis:
Against the backdrop of the Boulevard du Crime, a popular theatre district in 1820s Paris, a free-spirited beauty captivates a notable actor of generous nature, a criminal dandy with ambitions as a writer, and a Count of refined tastes. However, she keeps a place in her heart alone for a romantic mime artist.
Review:
The pinnacle of the Carné-Prévert partnership is two films rolled into one, at once a paean to the theatre, all types of theatre, and an illustration of how life and art intertwine. Begun shortly after the Allies landed in Italy, and released almost a year after the liberation of Paris, the film enshrines all the qualities of 30s French cinema - qualities of performance, depth of characterisation and refinement of mise-en-scène - which would soon lead to the stagnation of the 1950s. Taken on its own terms, each segment consists of three or four set pieces that by turns foreground comedy, drama or that peculiar brand of poetic realism that typified the output of Carné-Prévert and permitted them to end their film with an inconclusive crowd scene. Note: the international release title is in fact a misnomer based on an unimaginative translation of 'le paradis', which refers to the gods (i.e. the cheap seats), where Prévert's sympathies lay.