Children of Paradise - Muhammad Ahmad

Marcel Carne’s “Children of Paradise,” is arguably one of the best French films of all time. The film, which was set in France in the early 1820’s, was filmed over a two-year period, between 1943-1945. Besides the great story, sound, and footage, one of the main reasons this movie is hailed to be such a classic is the time period it was shot in. The movie was made during World War II and it endured the hard times, and uplifted many people. The movie was filmed secretly, in spite of the Nazi invasion of France. The film, which wasn’t released until 1945, after the liberation of France, was the most expensive film shot in France up to that time. The final production costs totaled to be around fifty-eight million francs.

“Children of Paradise” was a story about woman named Garance, who had four different men that were in love with her. Each man had a completely different background. The men included an actor, an aristocrat, a criminal, and a mime. The movie is broken up in to two parts. Part one is called Boulevard du Crime or Boulevard of Crime and part two is called L'Homme Blanc or The Man in White.

In the beginning of the first part we see Garance get accused of stealing a man’s gold watch and then we are quickly introduced to the character of Baptiste the Mime. Baptiste stands up for her, gets her out of the problem, and then falls in love with her. This scene stands out to me because of the great camera movement in the shot before Baptiste appears. The shots were held fairly long. I also like the editing when Baptiste appears; it helped portray him as a jovial and dynamic character. We can also tell there is something under all the joy. The story picks up in part two, which is seven years later. It ends with Garance reuniting with Baptiste and running of with him. It also ends with Garance’s protector, Count Edouard being killed. Garance leaves with Baptiste without knowing of his death.

I found one of the strongest qualities of this film to be the screenplay. All of the character had a complex individual story and eventually they became intertwined. In the end and it all came together into one conclusion. Marcel Carne collaboratored with Jacques Prevert to come up with the screenplay. The intelligent script was nominated for a screenplay Oscar.