| A true masterwork Marcel Carné's epic Children of Paradise is still regarded as one of the best French movies ever made
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| CHILDREN OF PARADISE
April 23-26, 7 p.m., Cinematheque
Marcel Carné finally delivered his 1945 epic Children of Paradise to instantaneous acclaim after a torturous two-year birthing process. It's since been widely recognized as the director's foremost achievement. (It was even selected the "Best French Film Ever" in a 1995 poll.)
As remarkable as the film itself are the incidental details that surrounded its difficult shoot during the Occupation of France.
Original plans to make the picture an Italy/France co-production were squashed when Sicily was invaded. After regrouping in Nice, the French would end up footing the bill entirely, making it the country's most expensive picture at the time: 58 million francs.
Director Carné and distinguished screenwriter Jacques Prévert (Jean Renoir's The Crime of Monsieur Lange) snuck two Hungarian Jews - set designer Alexandre Trauner and composer Joseph Kosma - into the fold despite facing fatal consequences if their heritage had been uncovered by fascist German forces. Luckily, no one became the wiser and, as a result, Trauner's rich, detailed sets and the forlorn strains of Kosma's lush, romanticized score have been recorded for posterity.
To get around a rule that demanded no film be over 90 minutes, Carné shot the grand narrative to be run back-to-back as two parts, with the second taking place six years after the events of the first and featuring its own credit sequence.
The film's universe is built on an elaborate recreation of the Boulevard du Crime of 1820s Paris. The Parisian Boulevard took its name from the melodramatic, murder-heavy plays that were so frequent on the street's circuit.
The story specifically concerns three gentlemen heavily dedicated to stage acting: the pompous lothario Frederic Lematire (Pierre Brasseur), the detestable, if intellectually minded, thief Pierre-François Lacenaire (Marcel Herrand), and, most beguilingly, Baptiste Debureau (Jean-Louis Barrault), a mime of unequalled talent.
The worthy object of their affection is Garance (Arletty), an enigmatic actress who will eventually find herself in a romantic entanglement with the aristocratic Count Edouard de Montray (Louis Salou) following suspected involvement in a criminal matter.
Just how the trio learns to live with her decision to marry the Count becomes the focal point of the film's second half. Baptiste's the most shaken up of the bunch; he unhappily marries and has a child with Nathalie (María Casares) soon after.
Baptiste's baroque onstage performances are an undeniable highlight, as they also serve as a comment on the narrative. Coupled with his sullen demeanor, these stage-bound sequences allow him to become a figure of high tragedy, his body language in command as it expresses layers of lovelorn tranquility.
Children of Paradise is an admitted influence on Bob Dylan's little-seen experimental masterwork, Renaldo & Clara. Dialogue from the film also inspired Dylan's songwriting, most notably a line in You're a Big Girl Now which quotes Garance's signature line, "Love is so simple."
The line also perfectly encapsulates Carné's majestic tapestry of art, artifice and misplaced love.
— Aaron Graham |
Uptown
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