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Paradis perdu
1940 Drama / Romance
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Credits
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Director: Abel Gance
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Script: Steve Passeur, Joseph Than
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Photo: Gravot, Christian Matras
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Music: Hans May
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Cast: Fernand Gravey (Pierre Leblanc),
Elvire Popesco (Sonia Vorochine),
Micheline Presle (Janine / Jeannette),
André Alerme (Calou),
Monique Rolland (Laurence),
Robert Le Vigan (Édouard Bordenave),
Robert Pizani (Lesage),
Jane Marken (Madame Bonneron,
la concierge),
Marcel Delaître (Le capitaine),
Gérard Landry (Gérard)
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Country: France
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Language: French
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Runtime: 103 min; B&W
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Aka: Four Flights to Love; Paradise Lost
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Summary
In 1913, a young artist, Pierre falls in love with a beautiful seamstress, Janine.
Their Elysian summer is cut short when war breaks out and Pierre is sent to fight on the
front. After the war, Pierre returns home to find that his wife has died whilst
giving birth to their daughter, Jeannette. Disillusioned and heart-broken, Pierre
withdraws on himself and it is a struggle for him to bring up his daughter, the daughter
that brought death to the only woman he loved…
Review
Although he is best known for his hugely artistic epics, such as
La Roue (1923) and
Napoléon (1927), director Abel Gance
made a number of conventional melodramas, of which Paradis
perdu is a pretty good example. The darkening mood of the film reflects that
of the time in which it was made – in the months leading up to World War II – and this
allows Gance to revisit some of the anti-war themes of his earlier film
J’Accuse (1919). The film’s emotional
power lies mainly in Fernand Gravey’s poignant performance, one of the most notable in
his career. A young débutante Micheline Presle almost steals the film, however
– she plays both the ill-fated wife and the adolescent daughter, and has no difficulty
outshining her glamorous (and probably miscast) co-star Elvire Popesco.
© James Travers 2005
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