Film Review: Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du paradis, 1945)

To say that the American and French cinema industries took very different paths at the end of the first half of the 20th century would be an understatement. In 1939 Hollywood produced Gone with the Wind, an epic period melodrama which would become the commercially most successful film of all time and part of global popular culture that exists to this day.

Six years later came a film which is often considered to be the French answer to Gone with the Wind. It was Children of Paradise, the 1945 epic period melodrama directed by Marcel Carné, a film which is today mostly known for winning critics’ polls about the best films of all time and being deeply appreciated by hardcore cinephiles.

Children of Paradise, just like Gone with the Wind, is set in the 19th century. The plot begins in late 1820s Paris, namely in the Boulevard du Temple, which was the theatre district at the time, nicknamed “Boulevard du Crime” (“Boulevard of Crime”) because crime melodramas used to be the most popular plays among a mainly low-class audience. Among the many performers who make their living there is Claire “Garance” Reine (played by Arletty), a beautiful, free-spirited woman who would ultimately catch the attention of four very different men. One of them is Frederick Lamaitre (played by Pierre Brasseur), a hedonistic and womanising actor who dreams of becoming the star in a “proper” theatre. The second one is Baptiste Debureau (played by Jean-Louis Barrault), a talented and sensitive mime who works in the cabaret-like Théâtre des Funambules. Third is Pierre-François Lacenaire (played by Marcel Herrand), a thief and murderer with literary ambition. They all covet Garance, but she will be ultimately taken by the fourth man, the rich and influential Count Edouard de Mornay (played by Louis Salou), who would keep her as his mistress.

After a six-year absence, Garance returns to the Boulevard du Crime, where she finds Frederick as the toast of Paris, while Baptiste, equally successful, still works in the Funambules and is married to Nathalie (played by Maria Casares), the daughter of the theatre’s owner, with whom he has another son. Garance apparently has feelings for Baptiste, and when Frederick discovers that, he would use his own jealousy to master playing the lead character of Othello. Lacenaire would, on the other hand, react in a very different way, leading to bloodshed.

Children of Paradise was almost instantly proclaimed as the best film in the history of French cinema. It was undoubtedly the most expensive by that time, and it could easily be seen in the introductory scene, which features the Boulevard du Crime (demolished in the mid-19th century) being painstakingly reconstructed through a great studio set and the use of hundreds of extras wearing not only standard period costumes but also all kinds of clothes you might associate with different types of street and more “proper” entertainers. Carné, aided by cinematographer Roger Hubert, provides a fascinating reconstruction of the period even in scenes with interior settings, especially theatres, in scenes directed with obvious devotion for the stage and its world. Jean-Louis Barrault, who actually gave Carné the idea of what the film should be about, displays great talent of pantomime and simply shines in scenes during which he plays a Pierrot-like character and, at the same time, pays homage to the silent film comedies of Charlie Chaplin.

Carné was, however, more fascinated with the long-gone past, and the three main male characters that appear are historical – Lamaitre was indeed one of the kings of French theatre in the 19th century, Baptiste Debureau is credited with developing modern pantomime, while Lacenaire’s crimes and his defiant justifications for them provided inspiration for Dostoyevsky and the character of Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment. Through those characters and their interactions with both the aristocratic upper class and the theatrical demi-monde, Carné paints a fascinating picture of a world that doesn’t exist, while his favourite scriptwriter Jacques Prévert delivers great dialogue and themes of social division and different attitudes to love that, despite their occasionally over-melodramatic treatment, seem as relevant today as they were two centuries ago.

Carné’s achievement looks even more impressive when put in the context of the extremely difficult conditions under which his film was made. When production started in 1942, France was under the occupation of Nazi Germany, and Carné had to shuttle production between the Vichy-controlled and German occupation zones. Authorities banned any film longer than an hour and a half, so Carné made the film in two parts. While the period setting and main theme prevented any problems with censorship, Children of Paradise suffered because of logistic and financial problems. The film was originally supposed to be co-produced by Fascist Italy, but its capitulation in September 1943 meant that Carné had to spend a large amount of time trying to find an alternative source of financing. He also had to make sure that French fascists, who were part of his cast and crew, somehow missed the presence of his production designer Alexandre Trauner and composer Joseph Kosma, who were both Hungarian Jews and, as such, most likely to be persecuted by the authorities.

As production was nearing its end, Carné deliberately postponed its finish, hoping that he could end it without such considerations after France was liberated. His patience paid off, and Children of Paradise was finished with some of the scenes reshot (namely those in which the character of the street peddler Jericho, originally played by the fascist actor Robert Le Vigan, got replaced by Pierre Renoir). Children of Paradise premiered shortly before the end of the war in Europe and, despite its epic running time of more than three hours, became a massive hit, beginning its unstoppable conquest of critics’ and film scholars’ hearts and minds.

While much of the praise for Children of Paradise is well-deserved, the film is not perfect, and the reasons for that are probably the same as those responsible for the fact that it doesn’t have as much sway over today’s generation of viewers as certain Hollywood classics of the same period. Some might point to the black-and-white cinematography that partially degrades its epic scope. For some, Arletty, who was in her forties during production, simply doesn’t have the proper look of a femme fatale that would create such havoc among the hearts of so many different men. But those problems, mostly solved with efficient makeup and lighting tricks, look minor in comparison with the characterisation, which isn’t always tidy. While the characters of Baptiste and Frederick are well-drawn and played beautifully by Carné’s old associates Barrault and Brasseur, the character of Lacenaire, who was by all accounts much more interesting, isn’t developed enough, and the motives for his sinister actions remain an enigma until the unusual but somewhat un-cathartic finale.

However, even with those flaws, Children of Paradise is a truly remarkable piece of cinema France has every reason to be proud of.

RATING: 8/10 (+++)

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