Les Enfants du Paradis

I am fascinated by the idea of the play within a play, with the boundaries between the two being crossed. Theatre merges into reality: you can’t always tell which is which. Nobody is quite who they seem to be.
Another layer to the intermingling of realities is that the film was made against the backdrop of occupied France, and at the time many of the film crew and extras were in the restistance, using filming as a daytime cover.
The film opens with a tightrope-walker, who seems to echo the balancing-act between truth amd fiction with which the film plays.