That "Les enfants du paradis" (1945) exists at all is remarkable for two reasons, basically a consequence of one thing, the war. Firstly, that it exists as a film that we can still watch and enjoy, and that it was made in the first place, let alone survive, is miraculous. But secondly, and just as importantly, it's remarkable that it exists as it is, vivacious, energetic, fun, interested in the art of filmmaking. In this respect it reminds me of Vigo, who made "L'Atalante" (1934) knowing he'd die sooner rather than later. The tragedy is tragic, the comedy is comic – everything works and it's impossible to think how cohesive the film is, considering it was made over several years.
In other words, how amazing to have a film made in the bleakest of circumstances that still radiates with so much life. After the curtain literally opens the viewer is treated to three hours of the most amazing drama, comedy and visual filmmaking, as well as clever storytelling. We are thrown in the middle of a street, where everyone is giving a performance: Lemaître flirts, Lacaneire gives a monologue (underlined by Garance, who says listening to him is like watching a play), and Baptiste, while acting, witnesses a crime and gives a performance of it in mime. The blind man isn't really blind but merely acting, and later on the love Baptiste and Lemaître have for Garance becomes a play not only once but twice, the latter instance written by some rather ordinary bloke called William-something.
It's ironic that I have previously tried to watch the film at least twice, being unable to continue beyond the first twenty minutes (the reasons for this might not be numerous but too domestic to bother you with). But having now watched the film in its entirety, its flow and rhythm makes the time fly. In this respect it's very much like other "longer" epics ("Shichinin no samurai", "Lawrence of Arabia") that are somehow condensed into a speck of time, or should we say timelessness. I can't wait to see it again, which leads to the one teeny-weeny problem we fans have, because —
Shamefully the film has been treated with a terrible high definition transfer of the film, and luckily this has been well-documented. Pathé apparently created a 4K scan of the original nitrate negative in 2011 (the work performed at L'Imagine Ritrovata in Bologna, Italy) and then reconstructed and restored in Paris by Eclair Laboratories. But what we have on the Blu-ray is far from wonderful, and only makes one wonder what the 4K scan might have looked like before the terrible digital noise reduction that's only matched by other similar disasters done in DNR to great films ("Le samouraï" and "Madame De..." come to mind, the former also a Pathé resto). The Criterion Collection disk in Region A suffers from the exact same problems as the Second Sight in Region B. I hope we won't have to wait for a long time to get an edition of this film that it greatly deserves.
In other words, how amazing to have a film made in the bleakest of circumstances that still radiates with so much life. After the curtain literally opens the viewer is treated to three hours of the most amazing drama, comedy and visual filmmaking, as well as clever storytelling. We are thrown in the middle of a street, where everyone is giving a performance: Lemaître flirts, Lacaneire gives a monologue (underlined by Garance, who says listening to him is like watching a play), and Baptiste, while acting, witnesses a crime and gives a performance of it in mime. The blind man isn't really blind but merely acting, and later on the love Baptiste and Lemaître have for Garance becomes a play not only once but twice, the latter instance written by some rather ordinary bloke called William-something.
It's ironic that I have previously tried to watch the film at least twice, being unable to continue beyond the first twenty minutes (the reasons for this might not be numerous but too domestic to bother you with). But having now watched the film in its entirety, its flow and rhythm makes the time fly. In this respect it's very much like other "longer" epics ("Shichinin no samurai", "Lawrence of Arabia") that are somehow condensed into a speck of time, or should we say timelessness. I can't wait to see it again, which leads to the one teeny-weeny problem we fans have, because —
Shamefully the film has been treated with a terrible high definition transfer of the film, and luckily this has been well-documented. Pathé apparently created a 4K scan of the original nitrate negative in 2011 (the work performed at L'Imagine Ritrovata in Bologna, Italy) and then reconstructed and restored in Paris by Eclair Laboratories. But what we have on the Blu-ray is far from wonderful, and only makes one wonder what the 4K scan might have looked like before the terrible digital noise reduction that's only matched by other similar disasters done in DNR to great films ("Le samouraï" and "Madame De..." come to mind, the former also a Pathé resto). The Criterion Collection disk in Region A suffers from the exact same problems as the Second Sight in Region B. I hope we won't have to wait for a long time to get an edition of this film that it greatly deserves.