What 1945 French film directed by Marcel Carné is considered a masterpiece of poetic realism?

The 1945 French film directed by Marcel Carné and regarded as a masterpiece of poetic realism is Children of Paradise. Its French title is Les Enfants du paradis.

Written by poet and screenwriter Jacques Prévert, the film is set in the theatrical world of 1830s Paris. At its center is Garance, a courtesan played by Arletty, and four men who love her in sharply different ways: the mime Baptiste, the actor Frédérick Lemaître, the criminal Pierre-François Lacenaire, and the aristocrat Édouard de Montray.

The production was unusually difficult. Filming began during the German occupation of France and continued under wartime conditions in both occupied and Vichy-controlled territory. Despite shortages and interruptions, Carné and Prévert created a richly staged portrait of performance, desire, class, and illusion.

The title refers to the “paradise” section of a theatre, where the cheapest seats were occupied by ordinary spectators. The film is often called the French equivalent of a grand epic, and it is regularly ranked among the greatest French films ever made.