THE CLASSIC FILM "CHILDRENF PARADISE": A REVIEW

CHILDRENOFPARADISE
Directed by Jacques Prevert, Written by: Fred Orain, Starring: Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, Maria Casares
RELEASED: I945

The word "paradise", as noted by one critic, refers in French usage to the name for the balcony in a theater, where poorer people sat and viewed a play, often making and unmaking reputations. Children of Paradise is divided into two "epochs," "Boulevard of Crime" and "The Man in White", which were originally two films. The first begins around 1827, the second about seven years later. The action takes place mostly in the neighborhood of the Boulevard du Temple in Paris, nicknamed "Boulevard of Crime" because of all the melodramas and bloody scenarios offered to the largely plebeian public each evening. There are two principal theaters, The Theatre des Funambules ("tightrope walkers") specializing in pantomime, since the authorities do not allow it to use spoken dialogue, which is reserved for the Grand Theater, the "official" theater.

The character of Garance (Arletty) is shown in a sideshow tent as the embodiment of "Truth"; but water conceals her body, so that she supplies ''truth, but only from the neck up.'' We're also introduced to several other characters almost simultaneously: Baptiste Debureau (Jean-Louis Barrault), a talented mime, , a criminal, Pierre François Lacenaire (Marcel Herrand), Frédérick Lemaître (Pierre Brasseuran) an egotistical but talented actor and bon vivant, and an aristocrat, Édouard de Montray (Louis Salou).

All the male characters except the criminal want and desire Garance, and why not: she's truth, and as the poet said, truth is beautiful; listen to her dialogue; she may flatter the men she desires, but she always ultimately tells the truth. Garance is briefly intrigued or involved with them all, but leaves them when they attempt to force her love on their terms. However, the only one whose love is pure, the mime Baptiste, is the one who suffers the most in pursuit of the unattainable Garance. He gets the first shot at her love, but he blows it when he demands that she should come to him. Next comes the actor Frédérick , who's always thinking of himself, but is roguishly charming. It seems the criminal Lacenaire might have a chance, but he's the heavy and not really interested. He's hard as steel; he represents death, and indeed he's always around when someone dies or is injured, sometimes with his help.

All these men orbit around the proud, elusive, and sublime presence of Garance. Richard Roud praised Arletty's performance and called it "one of the greatest portraits of a woman in all of cinema, a performance for the ages." To her, love is simple, as simple as the tune of a music box ("When I want to say yes, I can't say no"). After several years away with the aristocrat, drawn back to the theatre by her desire to see Baptiste, the one man she truly loves, she confesses in a speech of quietly moving dignity: "I'm not sad, but not cheerful either. A little spring has broken in the music box. The music is the same but the tone is different.

Truth languishes, and the rich Duke talks her into being his mistress. He has a huge palace and his admiration of her knows no bounds, but ultimately his love is sterile. Truth goes every night to the performance of the mime, who's still in love with her, and whose heart is broken that she's gone. Meanwhile, without Garance, Frédérick becomes a celebrity, fights drunken duels, and gets some of the best dialogue; he suddenly finds himself jealous for the first time in his life. While the feeling is highly unpleasant, he realizes that his jealousy will help him as an actor. He will finally be able to play the role of Othello, having now experienced the emotions which motivate the character.

The four men courting Garance are all based on real French personalities of the 1800s. Baptiste Debureau was a famous mime and Frédérick Lemaître was an acclaimed actor on the 'Boulevard of Crime'. Pierre Lacenaire was an infamous French criminal, and the character of the comte Édouard de Montray was inspired by the Duc de Morny.

The ending of Children of Paradise will give you relief and wonderment. Relief that it's finally over, (it's uncut version is over 3 hours long); and wonderment as to what this vaguely surrealist masterpiece all means. Being a French film, nothing is going to be spelled out for us, but it's a play-within-a-play about acting, the theatre and the nature of truth, wrapped up in the French philosophy, politics and art of the time. Heavy going for all but the most committed, but full of wonderful moments.

Scenes from the film: Garance (statue) and Baptiste in Mime sequence --- Garance and Baptiste (in French) --- Street Scene (in French)

Notes:
(a) The external sets in Nice were badly damaged by natural causes, compounded by the theatrical constraints during the German occupation of France during World War II.
(b) The WWII era Vichy administration had imposed a maximum time limit of 90 minutes for feature films, so the film was split into two parts - Le Boulevard du crime (The Boulevard of Crime) and L'Homme blanc (The White Man).
(c) Legend has it that many of the 1,800 extras were Resistance agents using the film as daytime cover, who, until the Liberation, mingled with Vichy sympathizers who were imposed on the production by the authorities.
(d) Alexandre Trauner, who designed the sets, and Joseph Kosma, who composed the music, were Jewish and had to work in complete secrecy throughout the production and their work was attributed to others in the credits.
(e) When Paris was liberated in August 1944, the actor Robert le Vigan, who was, ironically, cast in the role of informer-thief Jericho, was sentenced to death by the Resistance for collaborating with the Nazis, and had to flee, along with the author Céline, to Sigmaringen. He was replaced at a moment’s notice by Pierre Renoir, older brother of French filmmaker Jean Renoir and son of the famous painter, and most of the scenes had to be redone. Vigan was tried and convicted as a Nazi collaborator in 1946. One scene featuring Vigan survives in the middle of the second part, when Jericho informs to Nathalie.
(f) Arletty, the female whom all males revolve around, was the stage name of Leonie´Bathiat. She had an affair with a Luftwaffe officer during WWII, thus she was in jail for collaboration when Children of Paradise opened. Her classic response: "My heart is French, but my *ss is international."
(e) Children of Paradise was named at Cannes the best French film of all time.
(f) To force the perspective and fool the eye, the sets used buildings that fell off rapidly in height, and miniature carriages driven by dwarves.