Children of Paradise, 1945
Children of Paradise (Marcel Carné, 1945)
"Marcel Carné's 1945 vox populi masterpiece Children of Paradise has often been called ‘the French Gone With the Wind.’ Carné and screenwriter Jacques Prévert seem to span the full gamut of love's emotional spectrum, most notably in the film's superior first half, ‘The Boulevard of Crime.’ Stage queen Garance (Arletty) is the embodiment of elusive desire; she is loved and seduced by no less than four men at once yet she's incapable of being kept. Indeed, she openly discloses her adoration for freedom when she's mistaken for a petty thief and subsequently rescued by the pantomime Baptiste (Jean-Louis Barrault). Struck, as if by Cupid, the androgynous Baptiste is a kind of fairy-tale mime that emotes and renders the truth through his observant gaze. From the beginning, Children of Paradise blurs the line between real life and stage drama, so much so that they become indistinguishable from one another. Carné's France…is a poetic realist's wonderland, a gateway to a dreamworld where human laws are mere judicial errors and love is so painful to hold onto it can only be savored in the moment." -Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
Cinematheque Waterloo is delighted to present, courtesy of Janus Films, the original film on a glorious new 35mm print.
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Runtime: 190
Director: Marcel Carné Cast: Arletty , Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, Pierre Renoir |
Children of Paradise, 1945
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Children of Paradise (Marcel Carné, 1945)
"Marcel Carné's 1945 vox populi masterpiece Children of Paradise has often been called ‘the French Gone With the Wind.’ Carné and screenwriter Jacques Prévert seem to span the full gamut of love's emotional spectrum, most notably in the film's superior first half, ‘The Boulevard of Crime.’ Stage queen Garance (Arletty) is the embodiment of elusive desire; she is loved and seduced by no less than four men at once yet she's incapable of being kept. Indeed, she openly discloses her adoration for freedom when she's mistaken for a petty thief and subsequently rescued by the pantomime Baptiste (Jean-Louis Barrault). Struck, as if by Cupid, the androgynous Baptiste is a kind of fairy-tale mime that emotes and renders the truth through his observant gaze. From the beginning, Children of Paradise blurs the line between real life and stage drama, so much so that they become indistinguishable from one another. Carné's France…is a poetic realist's wonderland, a gateway to a dreamworld where human laws are mere judicial errors and love is so painful to hold onto it can only be savored in the moment." -Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
Cinematheque Waterloo is delighted to present, courtesy of Janus Films, the original film on a glorious new 35mm print.