LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES

Cinema giants Jean-Pierre Melville and Jean Cocteau collaborated to create LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES, a stunning portrait of surreal perversion and narcissism based on Cocteau's novel of the same name.

When teenage Paul, the fragile protagonist, is mysteriously felled by a powerful snowball thrown by his dastardly and handsome idol, Dargelos, he returns home to recuperate under the unwilling care of his irascible sister, Elisabeth. The two share a bedroom in the home of their ailing mother. Within their bedroom, the siblings have constructed a private universe of erotically charged jokes, elaborate rituals, and coded behaviour sealing them off from the rest of the world.

When their mother unexpectedly dies Paul and Elisabeth spiral even further into their own world, with Paul's fragile condition keeping him from returning to school. The incestuous undertones and poisonous ambiance are further complicated as Paul and Elisabeth are joined first by Paul's friend Gerard, who is obsessed with Elisabeth, and finally by Agathe, Elisabeth's colleague who is the spitting image of Paul's nemesis Dargelos.

As the diabolical Elisabeth becomes unable to hide her dangerous love for Paul, the film heads for its high-pitched climax.

Cocteau's tale of sublimation and deception comes to life under Melville's lucid direction. Cocteau's stewardship of the shoot ensured that the film deviated little from his original text, though he and Melville clashed repeatedly. One of Melville's major victories was to have the same (female) actor, Renée Cosima, play both Dargelos and Agathe. Melville also ensured the use of prerecorded classical music (Bach and Vivaldi) to accompany the images.

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