Nov 4, 2013

Les Enfants Terribles (1950) , Jean-Pierre Melville

Adapted by Jean Cocteau from his own novel and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, Les Enfants Terribles is set in motion when a sensitive youth, Paul (Edouard Dermit), is injured by a snowball flung by school bully Dargelos (Renée Cosima, an actress in male drag). The bully later reappears in the form of a young girl, Agathe (played again by Cosima), with whom Paul becomes infatuated. This arouses the displeasure of Paul's sister, Elisabeth (Nicole Stephane), who also harbors a carnal desire for her brother. Elisabeth arranges to destroy Paul's romance, forcing Agathe to marry another. The sister gets her comeuppance in a perversely indirect fashion at the hands of the male bully Dargelos. This film was completed in 1952, but not released in the U.S. until 1975.

 
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