The story takes place in a circus in Paris in the 1970's. Much is made of the romance of the circus atmosphere, of flying through the air on a trapeze etc. We're talking about Old World riffs on the romance and tawdriness of the ring. There are no elephants in tutus walking on their hind legs in this circus; but there are slit-eyed jugglers, daring death-loving trapeze artists and sad Pierrot clowns; though the…