The collaboration between director Marcel Carné and writer Jacques Prévert is often called "a masterpiece of world cinema." The story, set in 19th century France, depicts the vagaries of love and life in the world of the French theater as a young woman uses her charms to play one heart against another and to make her way in the world. Made under tense conditions at the end of the Nazi occupation of France, the film has a Gallic charm and melancholy, as well as a tolerant view of human nature as each of us tries to figure out the real and the ephemeral during our lives. Many find this aspect and the sweeping story both enjoyable and touching. The movie has a massive cast, with Arletty as Garance, and Jean-Louis Barrault as Baptiste Debureau among the leads, many of whom are based on real life figures in 19th century theater.
I hope that you'll post your impressions of this movie if you'd like.
If you are interested in this film, perhaps you'll enjoy this article:
An Article on Marcel Carné and Les Enfants du Paradis in the Guardian
Do watch it! You won't regret it. The poetic dialogue by Prévert and the acting by Barrault, Arletty and Pierre Brasseur are just fantastic. 
