Directed by:
Jean-Pierre MelvilleCinematography:
Henri DecaëCast:
Nicole Stéphane, Edouard Dermithe, Renée Cosima, Jean Cocteau, Jacques Bernard, Rachel Devirys, Hélène Rémy, Jean-Marie RobainPlots(1)
In this compelling tale of incestuous obsession, a teenage brother and sister, Paul and Elisabeth, create an intense, private world in their untidy shared single room. Within the room, they live, sleep, argue and play out their erotically charged games without heed to the real world going on around them. However, when outsiders intrude into their intensely private realm, the scene is set for tragedy. A hauntingly atmospheric adaptation of Jean Cocteau's 1929 claustrophobic hothouse novel, for which he also wrote the screenplay and provided the voice-over, the film is dominated by a performance of fierce intensity by Nicole Stéphane as the scheming heroine Elisabeth. Les Enfants terribles brought two very different film-makers together for the first time – the mercurial, multi-talented Jean Cocteau and the single-minded, self-sufficient Jean-Pierre Melville. Despite clashing with one another, what emerged is a unique film that is as true to Cocteau's vision as to Melville's. (British Film Institute (BFI))
(more)Cast
Nicole Stéphane
France
Best movies:
Le Silence de la Mer (1949)
Carve Her Name with Pride (1958)
Les Enfants Terribles (1950)
Edouard Dermithe
Italy
Best movies:
Orpheus (1950)
The Testament of Orpheus (1960)
The Eagle with Two Heads (1948)
Renée Cosima
France
Best movies:
Orpheus (1950)
Les Enfants Terribles (1950)
Jean Cocteau
France
Best movies:
Orpheus (1950)
The Testament of Orpheus (1960)
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Jacques Bernard
France
Best movies:
Joseph Balsamo (1973) (series)
Love and the Frenchwoman (1960)
Dear Caroline (1951)
Rachel Devirys
Russian Empire
Best movies:
Faces of Children (1925)
Gervaise (1956)
Les Enfants Terribles (1950)
Hélène Rémy
France
Best movies:
Borsalino (1970)
The Hotshots (1968)
Les Enfants Terribles (1950)
Jean-Marie Robain
France
Best movies:
Order of the Daisy (1967)
Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954)
Army of Shadows (1969)