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Les enfants du paradis
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Les enfants du paradis (1945) More at IMDbPro »

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Les enfants du paradis (1945) -- Open-ended Trailer from Criterion

Overview

Note des utilisateurs:
8.0/10   7,045 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 1% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Réalisateur:
Marcel Carné
Scénariste:
Jacques Prévert (scenario and dialogue)
Contact:
View company contact information for Children of Paradise on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
15 novembre 1946 (USA) suite
Genre:
Drame | Romance suite
Plot:
This tragic tale centers around the ill-fated love between Baptiste, a theater mime, and Claire Reine... suite | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
suite
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar. suite
Avis des utilisateurs:
you will be left with so much you never knew before, that you always thought existed suite

Ensemble

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Arletty ... Garance (Claire Reine)
Jean-Louis Barrault ... Baptiste Debureau
Pierre Brasseur ... Frédérick Lemaître
Pierre Renoir ... Jéricho
María Casares ... Nathalie (as María Casarès)
Gaston Modot ... Fil de Soie
Fabien Loris ... Avril
Marcel Pérès ... Director of the Funambules
Palau ... Stage manager of the Funambules (as Pierre Palau)
Etienne Decroux ... Anselme Debureau (as Étienne Decroux)
Jane Marken ... Mme. Hermine (as Jeanne Marken)
Marcelle Monthil ... Marie
Louis Florencie ... Policeman
Habib Benglia ... Turkish Bath Attendant
Rognoni ... Director, 'Grand Theatre'
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Additional Details

Autre(s) titre(s):
Children of Paradise (USA)
L'homme blanc (France) (second part title)
Le Boulevard du crime (France) (first part title)
Les enfants du paradis (Belgium: French title) [fr]
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Durée:
USA:163 min (edited) | France:190 min
Pays:
France
Langue:
Français
Couleur:
Noir et Blanc
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 suite
Son:
Mono
Emplacements De Pelliculage:
Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France suite

Curiosités

Anecdotes:
18 months in production. suite
Goofs:
Continuity: The positions of Avril and Lacenaire in the Turkish baths changes between the shot of their entry and the closer shot. suite
Guillemet:
Man in the audience: Shut up! We can't hear the pantomime! suite
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Incontrôlable (2006) suite

foire aux questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
38 out of 43 people found the following comment useful:-
you will be left with so much you never knew before, that you always thought existed, 14 August 2000
10/10
Author: jim-574 (jim@jimrichardson.com) de Sebastopol, California

Film Review by Jim Richardson

First published in "Der Stump" 7/16/75

GREATEST FILM EVER MADE

The greatest film ever made is director Marcel Carne's "Children of Paradise" with script by Jacques Prevert. It's hard to say more.

In Paris of the 1840's on Le Boulevard du Crime, Carne's camera soars through sideshow entertainments of every description. The motion picture has just begun. No characters introduced. Already the audience is gasping, dizzy, lost in a swirl of romantic imagery. We are inside a theatre sharing the cheapest seats in the last row of the top balcony near the ceiling with the "children of paradise." We forget ourselves and any notion that a film has to be "realistic" as we float along catching Carne's glimpse of this lost, fantastic era. The movie moves. It overflows with art and intelligence; we are totally under its spell of romance and beauty.

As the story unfolds, we watch it in a daze. There is suffering and sudden death. But no leaden hand is telling us this is a stylized allegory dealing with the paralysis of an occupied France. This is the kind of film people make when they may die tomorrow: we are compelled to receive it on the edge of our seat, every nerve tingling with desperate anticipation. We don't need to know that it was made between 1943-45 when some of the filmmakers were being hunted by the Gestapo, that starving extras stole banquets before they could be photographed.

Every movement the performers make is studied, made perfect as though this would be the last time any of them were to act. Garbo interests you? Meet Arletty. The ideal twentieth century woman. Witty. Controlled. Passionate. When she comes to her lover she glides toward the camera, walking without the use of her feet. Impossible? Not this time.

Jean-Louis Barrault playing Baptiste Debureau, the greatest French mime who created Pierrot (a pale, love-sick, ever-hopeful seeker after happiness) -- Barrault transcends the man's legend with elegant pathos. And the way he moves. Like a feather. How did he learn that?

The man who taught him plays his father in the film. As a matter of fact, Etienne Decroux taught Marcel Marceau as well. What does Decroux think of Marceau's popular mime? Snarls, "Walt Disney!"

Mime is serious to Decroux. At some of his performances if the audience interrupts with applause, he is insulted and immediately retires from the stage!

In the film, we see Barrault do many of Decroux's mime exercises during moments of Debureau's performances. Does Decroux think this is a good film? It is said that when he views it, tears run down his cheeks as he mouths all the lines.

But the film is not just about mime. Pierre Brasseur plays the most renowned romantic actor in France, Frederick LeMaitre. Decroux doesn't want him in his mime company at first because it's so obvious that "he's an actor." Frederick gets his break when he mocks a playwright by turning the man's melodrama into a farce. Years pass and both actor and mime become successful. But the actor cannot play "Othello" because he is so vain nothing can make him feel jealousy. That's right: Arletty cures him!

And there are aristocrats, and murderers, and thieves. And the film is over three hours long without a break. And you will be surprised how fast those three hours disappear!

You will be overcome with a feeling of ecstasy; you will sign, you will cry. And as your breath is taken away you will be left with so much you never knew before, that you always thought existed; something will have happened to you for the first time, and forever. Now is the time to fall in love with the best there is!

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Les enfants du paradis (1945)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Reminds me a alot of Chekhov's The Seagull... ferbrando
Best French Film of the Century brucedgo
Who plays Larcenaire? brucedgo
Why don't women like it? brucedgo
Canīt stand this plot sllgrecco
Did Garance really love Baptiste? goofah
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