This grand,lavish,romantic costume drama,called by some France's answer to Gone with the Wind,and voted by the French Academy their country's greatest film,is a magnificent evocation of the theatre and teeming street life in 1830's Paris.Revolving round a beautiful,enigmatic courtesan(Arletty,in her defining role),a ruthless criminal,a soft-hearted mime artist and a romantic stage actor,the film's cast,art direction and intertwining of different plot strands are superlative.While Arletty's independent spirit was taken to represent nazi-occupied France itself (an allegory which passed unnoticed by the German censors),the film is a glorious indulgence and a visual feast.