Children of Paradise (1945)

Original title

Les Enfants du Paradis

Directed by

Marcel Carné

Genre

drama film, romance film

Country

France

Runtime

3h 10m

Rated

NR

Rating

8.1 of 10 from 463 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

In 1830s Paris, a courtesan is loved by four very different men: a mime, an actor, a criminal, and an aristocrat. Each man wants her for their own reasons, and she must navigate their affections.

romanticmelancholictheatricalslow-burnvisually lushbittersweetintimatedramatic

What happens

Children of Paradise (French: Les Enfants du Paradis, [lez‿ɑ̃fɑ̃ dy paʁadi]) is a two-part French romantic drama film by Marcel Carné, produced under war conditions in 1943, 1944, and early 1945 in both Vichy France and Occupied France. Set in the theatrical world of 1830s Paris, it tells the story of a courtesan and four men—a mime, an actor, a criminal and an aristocrat—who love her in entirely different ways. It has received universal critical acclaim. "I would give up all my films to have directed Les Enfants du Paradis", said nouvelle vague director François Truffaut. In Truman Capote's The Duke in His Domain (1957), actor Marlon Brando called it "maybe the best movie ever made". Its original American trailer positioned it as the French answer to Gone With the Wind (1939), an opinion shared by critic David Shipman. A 1995 poll of 600 French critics and industry professionals voted it the best French film ever made. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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