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Les Enfants du Paradis

Screening: Monday 27 August, 5:30pm

Les Enfants du Paradis [Children of Paradise] (Marcel Carné, France, 1945)

A masterpiece of courage and freedom that emerged from what was perhaps France’s darkest hour – the German occupation during the 2nd World War. Its theme of oppression versus the freedom of the artist was so subtly written by Jacques Prévert that the entire project was done with the consent of the German censors, and yet, the clarity of its message is today impossible to miss.

In 1979, the French Film Academy voted Les Enfants Du Paradis the Best French Film of all time. The film is equally famous for the circumstances of its production: filmed semi-covertly during the Nazi occupation; released soon after the liberation. Carné, overshadowed by his masterpiece, maintained that the cast of thousands was in part a ploy to feed his defeated countrymen, amongst them clandestine members of the Resistance.

(16mm, B&W, 185 mins, in French with English subtitles)

Our activities have been sponsored this year by:

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