This past week I watched the 1945 Marcel Carne film Children of Paradise for the time, in my ongoing attempt at seeing as many film classics as possible. Part of my interest in watching classics arises from my obsessive list making (Yay OCD!) - I want to create a respectable top 100 movies list of my own, as well as a top 10 list for every year going as far back as possible -but my main interest is in trying to have an understanding of film history, which requires viewing a broad list of films and performances. Almost two years ago, I came up with a list of 500 films which I thought were important to see (ok, yes, OCD list making again, I get it). The list combined films that either were universally considered great, represented a particular genre, contained a noteworthy performance, or were representative of a certain director. Since creating the list I've seen less than two fifths of the movie. At this rate, it will probably take me another three years before I get through the list. Anyway, in the course of making my way through the list of films, I've come across a number of "great" films which I highly admire and understand why they're considered great, but I don't necessarily love. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Rashomon, and Smiles of a Summer Night are all great films, but I don't have an emotional bond to them. I didn't fall in love with the films, but that doesn't mean I don't recognize their greatness or their importance, and it also doesn't mean that I couldn't fall in love with one of them on a second viewing. It wasn't until my third viewing that I fell in love with Citizen Kane. The point I'm trying to get to, after after having explained all this, is that there is a particular enjoyment about watching a classic film and falling in love with it on your first viewing, and that's the experience I had while watching Children of Paradise. The film tells the story of four different men - a mime, an actor, a thief and an aristocrat - who are all in love with the same woman, Garance. She is unattainable and flees when any of them attempt to restrain her into the confines of a relationship. The tale is bittersweet, as the suitor who has the most pure form of love for Garance and doesn't try to confine her, the mime Baptiste, suffers the most in his quest for her love. At the end of the film, he is literally swept away from Garance by a Carnival crowd and there is no happy ending for the couple. The film is filled with great performances but the stand out is Jean-Louis Barrault as the mime Baptiste, whose face expresses more than his words could ever do. It's almost a silent film performance reminiscent of Chaplin and Keaton, and it's a beauty to behold. Well that's all I have to say for now.
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