Children of Paradise

Children of Paradise (French: *Les Enfants du Paradis*) is a two-part French romantic drama directed by Marcel Carné. It was made during the war years of 1943, 1944, and early 1945. The story takes place in the theatre world of 1830s Paris and follows a courtesan named Garance and four men—a mime, an actor, a criminal, and an aristocrat—each of whom loves her in a different way.

The film has been universally praised by critics. François Truffaut, a key figure of the French New Wave, said he would trade all his own films for the chance to have directed this one. In Truman Capote’s 1957 profile *The Duke in His Domain*, actor Marlon Brando called it “maybe the best movie ever made.” The original American trailer described it as the French answer to *Gone With the Wind* (1939), a view shared by critic David Shipman. In 1995, a poll of 600 French critics and industry professionals voted it the best French film ever made.

The title has a double meaning. As one critic noted, in French “paradis” is also the slang term for the gallery or second balcony in a theatre, where working-class audiences sat and reacted honestly and loudly. Actors performed to win over these “gallery gods,” hoping to be raised to an Olympian status. The film includes many shots of the audience leaning over the edge of these balconies (called “the gods” in British theatre). Screenwriter Jacques Prévert said the title refers to both the actors and the good-natured, working-class audience.

The story is set during the July Monarchy (1830–1848), centered on the area around the Funambules theatre on the Boulevard du Temple—nicknamed the “Boulevard du Crime.” The plot revolves around Garance (played by Arletty), a beautiful and charismatic courtesan. The four men who love her are the mime Baptiste Deburau (Jean-Louis Barrault), the actor Frédérick Lemaître (Pierre Brasseur), the thief Pierre François Lacenaire (Marcel Herrand), and the aristocrat Édouard de Montray (Louis Salou). Garance is briefly involved with each of them but leaves when they try to force her to love on their terms. The mime Baptiste suffers most in his pursuit of the unattainable Garance.

All four men are based on real historical figures from the 1820s and 1830s. Baptiste Deburau was a famous mime, and Frédérick Lemaître was a well-known actor on the Boulevard du Crime. Pierre Lacenaire was an infamous criminal, and the cha