Les Enfants du Paradis, released as Children of Paradise in North America, is a 1945 film by French director Marcel Carné, made during the Nazi occupation of France. Set among the Parisian theatre scene of the 1830s, it tells the story of a beautiful courtesan, Garance, and the four men who love her in their own ways: a mime, an actor, a criminal and an aristocrat. A three-hour film divided into two halves, it was described in the original Americ...
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Les Enfants du Paradis, released as Children of Paradise in North America, is a 1945 film by French director Marcel Carné, made during the Nazi occupation of France. Set among the Parisian theatre scene of the 1830s, it tells the story of a beautiful courtesan, Garance, and the four men who love her in their own ways: a mime, an actor, a criminal and an aristocrat. A three-hour film divided into two halves, it was described in the original American trailer as the French answer to Gone with the Wind. The film was voted "Best French Film Ever" in a poll of 600 French critics and professionals in 1995.
As noted by one critic, "in French, 'paradis' is the colloquial name for the gallery or second balcony in a theater, where common people sat and viewed a play, responding to it honestly and boisterously. The actors played to these gallery gods, hoping to win their favor, the actor himself thus being elevated to an Olympian status." The film contains many shots of the audience hanging over...
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