Les Enfants terribles
1950 Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
Synopsis
Writer Jean Cocteau and director Jean-Pierre Melville joined forces for this elegant adaptation of Cocteau’s immensely popular, wicked novel about the wholly unholy relationship between a brother and sister.
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I much prefer the later Melville films I've seen, this one contained miscast leads (they were much too old) who didn't capture the spirit of the story that I think was trying to escape from this film.
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Don't venture into this expecting a Melville film like when you watched Le samouraï or the rest of his cop trilogy. You may be surprised, disappointed even. Instead, if you like the more surreal world of Jean Cocteau this may be more up your alley. Cocteau wrote the novel this was based on, including the screenplay and also provided the narration.
I'm not exactly sure what this was, but it sure didn't appeal to me much. My thoughts after a while was that it cinematically seemed ten years ahead of its time, not a good thing in my case, because that brings us into the La Nouvelle Vague period of French film - not a favorite of mine. But at…
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Ultimately repetitious tale, beautifully shot, of a controlling older sister and the younger brother whose life she destroys. The wafting New Wave playfulness as they take part in their "game" as well as the forcefully amoral, devil-may-care delight the characters flit in for a time is terrifically entertaining but, unfortunately, finite. The film seems to run out of steam and continues on with banal, fish-in-a-barrel knocks at the bourgeoise, inspiring little interest and even less sense. Stands with minimal hashmark of Melville's stamp; Feels more like (author and narrator) Cocteau's baby being ushered by a third party only allowed to tinker with visual style rather than mise-en-scene.
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Les Enfants Terribles is a cinematic ancestor of both Amelie and Wild Things and I would never in a thousand years have thought there would be any shared DNA between those two films. This film lacks the sweetness of the former, though, and is even more contrived than the latter.
In fact, what makes Wild Things so much fun is that it celebrates its contrivances. Each plot twist is so obviously a gimmick meant to surprise us that we roll our eyes early and begin to laugh along at the joke once we get that that's what the film really is. Les Enfants Terribles escalates in a similar fashion, but lacks the sense of humor that makes it palatable to…
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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Unlike other people on here (it seems) I didn't really have a problem with the incestuous surreal story (reading the novel prepared me), and so I thought that Melville did it service. It was hauntingly shot, it didn't really make much sense and the choice of music was fantastic - these three facets alone more or less capture the spirit of the book. A lot of the acting was pretty flat, though; and it did get a bit boring/monotonous with Jean Cocteau's own wordy narration cutting in at mesmerising moments with stupid similes. Still, nice to see an artistic film every once in a while
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From my Top Directors Watchlist @ letterboxd.com/collykibber/list/top-directors-watchlist/
The heavy, philosophical musing of Jean Cocteau; reading from his own novel, dominate this film. JP Melville's own Le silence de la mer, Last Year At Marienbad and L'homme qui dort; are also part of this distinctly French high art/cinema tradition. All of these films work very well for me, but the style is dense and unique, and needs adjusting to each time I experience it. Chiefly, the script is written in flowing prose bordering on poetic philosophy. If Cocteau is the source and inspiration for this tradition, I can only suspect, because I haven't seen his own films. Cocteau/Melville handle some heavy themes of sibling dependency/ jealousy from a literary distance; explaining…
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A destructive sibling relationship plays out, in a childish, obvious way. That isn't a criticism, just that the film itself is not exactly a illustration of either Cocteau or Melville's full capabilities.
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Don't venture into this expecting a Melville film like when you watched Le samouraï or the rest of his cop trilogy. You may be surprised, disappointed even. Instead, if you like the more surreal world of Jean Cocteau this may be more up your alley. Cocteau wrote the novel this was based on, including the screenplay and also provided the narration.
I'm not exactly sure what this was, but it sure didn't appeal to me much. My thoughts after a while was that it cinematically seemed ten years ahead of its time, not a good thing in my case, because that brings us into the La Nouvelle Vague period of French film - not a favorite of mine. But at…
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Jean Cocteau's story deserved a better cast than the one Melville used. There was zilch chemistry among the four principals.
Is there a remake with good actors?
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Ultimately repetitious tale, beautifully shot, of a controlling older sister and the younger brother whose life she destroys. The wafting New Wave playfulness as they take part in their "game" as well as the forcefully amoral, devil-may-care delight the characters flit in for a time is terrifically entertaining but, unfortunately, finite. The film seems to run out of steam and continues on with banal, fish-in-a-barrel knocks at the bourgeoise, inspiring little interest and even less sense. Stands with minimal hashmark of Melville's stamp; Feels more like (author and narrator) Cocteau's baby being ushered by a third party only allowed to tinker with visual style rather than mise-en-scene.
-
Les Enfants Terribles is a cinematic ancestor of both Amelie and Wild Things and I would never in a thousand years have thought there would be any shared DNA between those two films. This film lacks the sweetness of the former, though, and is even more contrived than the latter.
In fact, what makes Wild Things so much fun is that it celebrates its contrivances. Each plot twist is so obviously a gimmick meant to surprise us that we roll our eyes early and begin to laugh along at the joke once we get that that's what the film really is. Les Enfants Terribles escalates in a similar fashion, but lacks the sense of humor that makes it palatable to…
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Good movie and faithful adaptation but it didn't capture the same tone as the book. Still a good New Wave film.
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I much prefer the later Melville films I've seen, this one contained miscast leads (they were much too old) who didn't capture the spirit of the story that I think was trying to escape from this film.