Children of Paradise

“One of my favorite French films from the wartime is Les Enfants du paradis, Children of Paradise, with Jean-Louis Barrault and Marcel Herrand. There’s a scene in this film where Jean-Louis Barrault... He’s a mime... He sees Arletty and Pierre Brasseur, and he understands immediately they have an affair. And he’s still performing, and he’s got a smile on his face, but it cracks, and his white makeup cracks in that moment. It’s always about showing the crack and what happens behind the makeup.”

“And Children of Paradise is one of the first films I ever saw in an art-House in Chicago in the late ’40s, I think it was, and I loved it. I just thought this was just the most marvelous film in the world. And it’s still showing places, so that’s great. It’s still alive.”

“Children of Paradise by Marcel Carné, Les Enfants du Paradis... Oh my God this is I think maybe my favorite movie ever. It's poetic realism but it's also so deeply human and the woman Arletty who plays the sort of who's loved by several different men is such a wonderfully sad knowing wise sexy liberated creature and yet you completely believe that you're in 18th century France. It's like funny and wistful and also the crowd scenes are incredible.”

“Les Enfants du paradis, Children of Paradise. When I did Devil in a Blue Dress, the street scenes in this film inspired me to do the street scenes and the way that I did them in Devil in a Blue Dress. And so I just, you know, thought it was very rich and I gotta have it.”

“When I picked up Stranger Than Paradise I thought it was going to be Children of Paradise you got to show everybody Children of Paradise I constantly recommend it to people... You can't go wrong Children of Paradise but I highly recommend being patient like Sunday morning like cup of coffee just chill out sit down enjoy the ride.”