The post about pickpockets reminded me of one of my favorite movies: the legendary Les enfants de paradis, or "Children of Paradise,"* which came out in March 1945.
"Children of Paradise" is often, or even usually, considered the best French movie ever made. It was also the most expensive up till then. It was directed by Marcel Carné in occupied France under conditions of unusual difficulty. The script was written by Jacques Prévert.
The movie is a larger-than-life panorama of mid-nineteenth-century Paris, especially the world of the theaters on the Grands Boulevards, where Parisians came together to be entertained. Several of the main characters are based on famous people: the actor, the mime, the poet-criminal and the count. They are joined by the (imaginary) courtesan they all love, played by the mesmerizing Arletty. (She was at least 45 at the time of the film.)
The actor, the beauty, the mime on the stage of the Funambules
What made me think of the film after the last post is that so many of its turning points are crimes. The hero meets his true love when she is falsely accused of picking a rich man's pocket; he meets the villain when he follows the sleazy Jericho (played by Pierre Renoir) to the area of the "court of miracles"**-- called that because blind beggars regained their sight and lame ones the use of their limbs there.
*"Paradise" in the title of the movie refers to the rafters, the "nose-bleed seats" in a theater, where the poorest but most enthusiastic audience members usually sit.
** The court of miracles was for centuries a lawless area of Paris, today a rather chic area of designer lofts and wholesale clothing stores, the Sentier.
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