Garance

I saw this movie for the first time about 40 years ago. I have seen it several times since. But since that first time, I have never seen a character in a movie like Garance. Regardless of what you think of Arlette-Leonie Bathiat, Garance is the most beautiful and mysterious woman she could have played. Despite Garance being poor, at least initially, and living in the scums of Paris, she's not cheap. I can see why Lemaitre and Baptiste, and even Lacenaire fall in love with her. And each in their own way, they follow her, they have their lives shaped by her.

The end is sad, but then, maybe it isn't. One night like that, what more can Baptiste and Garance ask for? And I don't think Lemaitre is sad in the end. He'll have his memories too.

I haven't seen a lot of movies that were made in 1945, I don't know how well this film was made, technically, compared to others, but I do know that most contemporary films may wish they were so good as Les Enfants du Paradis. Which in English means "children of the gods".