Children of Paradise
Short description
Set in early nineteenth-century Paris, this French drama centres on the bustling Boulevard du Temple, a street lined with theatres and known for its rowdy crowds. Among the performers is Baptiste Debureau, a mime who loves the free-spirited Garance. She is pursued by several men at once: the actor Frédérick Lemaître, the thief Lacenaire and the wealthy Count Édouard de Montray. Baptiste's feelings go unspoken, while Nathalie, the theatre director's daughter, loves him in turn. Their intertwined lives unfold against the world of popular spectacle, crime and aristocracy.
Marcel Carné directed the film, his second feature after Port of Shadows in 1938, from a screenplay by Jacques Prévert. Arletty plays Garance, with Jean-Louis Barrault as Baptiste, Pierre Brasseur as Frédérick, Marcel Herrand as Lacenaire, María Casares as Nathalie and Louis Salou as the Count. The production credits 47 cast members, and it runs 190 minutes.
The film holds a rating of 8 out of 10 on TMDB from 471 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 9.2 out of 10 from 43 reviews, indicating that professional reviewers rate it more highly than the wider audience does.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film was criticized by the French for its lack of military themes.
- During the war, the German government did not allow films longer than 90 minutes to be shown on screen. Then, producer André Paulvé proposed making two parts that would be shown one after the other, on the same day.
- Alexandre Trauner, who had previously worked with Carné, became the production designer, and Joseph Kosma was the composer. Due to their “undesirable to the Germans” origin, they were forced to work under other names.
- Members of the French Resistance were involved in the film (filming took place during the German occupation). One of the actors, after the liberation of Paris, was sentenced to death for collaboration with the Nazis.
- The main characters of the film are real historical figures. Mim Baptiste Debureau, or simply Baptiste, in 1819 on the stage of the Paris theater “L’Ambiguë” reimagined the image of Pierrot, creating the image of a rejected, unhappy lover. Frédéric Lemaître (1800-1876) was an actor and reformer of the French theater. Pierre Lacenaire (1803—1836) was a famous poet and murderer.
- Arletty, who played the role of Garance, fell in love with a German officer during filming, which led to accusations against her and even imprisonment. She later commented on this as follows: “My heart is French but my arse is international!”
Auditions in India
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