Les Enfants du Paradis

Warning

This guide and all of my reviews contain occasional bits of rude language,
and opinions some people might find offensive but for which I won’t apologise.
                    Don’t read any further unless you are open-minded.
As hard as I try not to give away too much, I can't guarantee there are no spoilers.

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Les Enfants du Paradis - Movie 1945 France - 190 Minutes
(AKA The Children of Paradise AKA Children of the Gods)


A Classic, and a Marathon (for Diehards Only)

Set in the theatrical world of Paris during the July Monarchy (1830-1848) on the Boulevard of Crime, this is the story of four men – a mime, an actor, a thief and an aristocrat – who try to win the love of the courtesan Garance.

Why on earth would this be interesting? It’s a black and white digital re-mastering of something made yonks ago (during the Nazi occupation of France during WWII, to be exact). Let’s face it, these days some people can’t bear to watch perfectly good colour movies if the “graphix are terrible”.

The Children of Paradise will be interesting to someone if they find the history of theatre or the history of writing or the history of cinema interesting. (And I was first drawn to it because the script was written by Jacques Prévert, whose Paroles I love.)

Theatre was traditionally censored by aristocrats until recent times, so “The Funambules” (licensed only for mime and acrobats) was a reasonable setting for a movie made during WWII.

I’m impressed Prévert was planning to sneak this little plot point past the Vichy censors:
The actor Frédérick is told by the manager of the “Funambules” that ordinary people do not want “acting” – they want something real…

 

 

 

 

The reference to “The Gods” is a reference to the highest tier of seats, the cheapest seats where the poorest theatregoers congregate. The Manager of the Funambules refers to them as pure gold – he does everything for them. This masterpiece has its light moments, but when it is not giving us mime, it is laden with prose – the thing I most appreciate from Prévert besides his lefty values. This is neither a comedy nor an action movie.

The character of the thief allows the Director Carné to introduce a touch of French Dickens – a 19th Century henchman to the story.
Four men altogether vie for the heart of Garance – the lady about to be accused above of stealing someone’s pocket watch – but just to complicate matters, another lady (Nathalie) is in love with the mime who is in love with Garance. Yes, this is amongst other things a long drawn out story of star crossed love. Will anyone be happy at the end of the story?

Definitely only for diehards who are interested in the evolution of theatre/ cinema, or the Pierrot/mime tradition in France, or the writing of Prévert.