This article is about Children of Paradise, the film. For the psychedelic trance group, see Children of Paradise (band)

Les Enfants du Paradis (known as Children of Paradise in its English release) is a 1945 film by French director Marcel Carne. Made during the Nazi occupation, the film is set in Paris in 1828. To tell the story simply, it is the tale of a beautiful courtesan, Garance, and the four men who love her in their own ways: a mime, an actor, a criminal and an aristocrat. The film was voted "Best French Film of the Century" in a poll of 600 French critics and professionals in the late 1990s.

The three hour film was extremely difficult to make due to theatrical constraints during the occupation. Noted critic Pauline Kael wrote "that the starving extras made away with some of the banquets before they could be photographed".

See also

• Cinema of France
• List of French language films

External links

• Roger Ebert's review of Children of Paradise