Paris 36

Paris 36 (Faubourg 36, 2008) is Christophe Barratier's musical drama you can watch online on iFILM. It unfolds in a working-class Paris neighborhood in the spring of 1936, as the leftist Popular Front sweeps into power.

Three performers lose their jobs when the local music hall, the Chansonia, shuts down. They decide to take the stage back and rebuild the troupe, even though audiences worn down by the looming crisis have stopped laughing at the tired old routines. Their luck turns when a young singer, Douce (Nora Arnezeder), steps up to the mic. Gérard Jugnot leads as a gentle, out-of-work stage manager, alongside Clovis Cornillac and Kad Merad.

Barratier, who made The Chorus, again blends nostalgia, songs and politics — strikes, the first paid holidays, the dread of another war. The whole neighborhood was built on a soundstage with real care, and Reinhardt Wagner's tunes stick with you. A warm, slightly old-fashioned film for anyone who loves vintage French chanson and stories about ordinary people. Stream Paris 36 online on iFILM.