Les Enfants terribles (The Strange Ones) poster & wallpaper
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Nicole Stéphane, Edouard Dermit, Renée Cosima, Jacques Bernard, Roger Gaillard ... see more see more... , Maria Cyliakus , Melvyn Martin , Adeline Aucoc , Emile Mathis , Maurice Revel , Jean-Marie Robain , Jean Cocteau , Edouard Dermithe

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... read more read more... 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. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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75% liked it

757 ratings

Critics

75% liked it

8 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 45 min.

Directed by: Jean-Pierre Melville

Release Date: January 1, 1950

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DVD Release Date: July 24, 2007

Stats: 87 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (87)

  • bookmunki
    May 28, 2011
    bookmunki
    I'm lost...
  • SirPant
    April 18, 2011
    SirPant
    I'm a big fan of Jean Cocteau's work and I have read the novel on which this is based and I just can't understand why Cocteau didn't direct it himself!? He was just getting over his opium addiction at the time but I can't help but think that might have helped. Considering both he... read more and Melville clashed on so many aspects of this film it hasn't turned out too bad but the contrasts of the two is obvious. For starters, I think the casting of Edouard Dermithe was wrong, as did Melville, but it's obvious that he was Cocteau's object of desire. Renée Cosima dual role was confusing and added nothing to the story but at least Nicole Stéphane did a fine job. Unfortunately both Cocteau and Melville have been on better form, it lacked Cocteau's usual flare and Melville's often brash but poetic intensity but it did follow the story perfectly when it mattered.
  • sanjurosamurai
    March 30, 2009
    sanjurosamurai
    far from being one of melvilles better films, the film suffers from intolerable characters and a dull and pointless story through 3/4 of the film. thankfully melville did a lot with a little, redeeming the otherwise dull story with an interesting and tragic final act. the techn... read moreical points also save the film with great direction, interesting camera angles, and great lighting choices, especially in the gallery scenes. overall somewhat disappointing but still very worthwhile, especially for melville fans.
  • fb1142797643
    November 25, 2011
    fb1142797643
    Jean-Pierre Melville may have directed "Les Enfants Terribles," but the film has little to do with the later crime pictures that form his main legacy. The true auteur here is Jean Cocteau. He adapted the screenplay from his own book. He narrates. A few visual tricks bear his stam... read morep, such as a dream sequence with backward motion, a mustached bust who seems to smirk at the action and a trademark shot where one character "floats" forward while the rest of the scene blurs behind him. Even the artistic, fluffed-up hairstyles suggest Cocteau's typical screen heroes.

    The story resembles a Shakespearian tragedy wherein all events feel more symbolic than realistic. Paul (Edouard Dermithe, whose career was almost nothing but Cocteau-related projects) and Elisabeth (Nicole Stephane) are same-aged siblings -- their characters seem about 17 years old. As the film opens, they have a sick mother and rely on a maid. Their relationship has a heavy incestuous undercurrent, and they sleep in the same room without concerns for modesty.

    While Paul is at school, his friend Dargelos (Renee Cosima, masquerading as a boy) hits him in the chest with a snowball. Paul collapses, bleeding from the mouth. The snowball seemingly contained a rock but, even so, it doesn't make sense that Paul is so grievously injured. Perhaps Dargelos's betrayal was the true wound.

    Paul is sent home to convalesce in bed, while Elisabeth tends to him. Here, we learn they're strangely fixated on what they call "the game." It is not well-explained, but apparently involves trying to top each other with harsh words and cruelty. Most of the film centers around their salty, self-involved interplay, and Elisabeth is such a loud, relentless shrew that many viewers may be turned off. Eventually, the pair's friends Gerard (Jacques Bernard) and Agathe (Cosima again, interestingly) become important figures in the psychological warfare. Elisabeth also marries a rich youth named Michael, who ensures that she and Paul can sustain their insular, pampered lifestyle. During the final act, the dialogue eerily echoes amid the giant halls of Michael's mansion -- which only adds to the film's dream-like atmosphere.

    "Les Enfants Terrible" is consistently stylish and intriguing, and fans of Cocteau's Orpheus trilogy shouldn't overlook this less famous work. However, Cocteau is also responsible for the film's biggest flaw: His intrusive narration is grossly overused. Many quiet moments would be more evocative if the audience was left room for its own personal impressions.
  • hossein13
    July 23, 2010
    hossein13
    July 2010 - This is am amazing movie. For the first half I was wondering how this crazy story with that strange narration and the theatrical actings can merge and make a good picture. But all of a sudden it was as if I was watching a Greek tragedy set in a modern stage. It is poe... read moretic in such an intrinsic way that could be done by one and only one person who is of course Jean Cocteau. Obviously Melville remains a technician in the service of the novel and the movie has not much to do with his later movies.

View All Les Enfants terribles (The Strange Ones) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Variety Staff
March 3, 2008
Variety Staff, Variety

Jean Cocteau has written the pic and delivers the commentary, which creates a gripping, dream-like attraction. Full Review

James Kendrick
March 3, 2008
James Kendrick, Q Network Film Desk

Unfortunately, the film's more poetic visual tendencies are frequently undermined by the unnecessary narration written and performed by Cocteau himself, which informs us of emotions and psychological ... Full Review

Douglas Pratt
March 3, 2008
Douglas Pratt, DVDLaser

One must admire the talents of Melville and Cocteau while watching the film, but the strongest emotions are arch and the biggest plot turns are silly.

Fernando F. Croce
March 3, 2008
Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion

The tension is between heightened whimsy and its vérité settings, or, more specifically, between Jean Cocteau's writing (an adaptation of his 1929 novel) and Jean-Pierre Melville's direction. Full Review

March 3, 2008
TV Guide's Movie Guide

The film also unmistakably bears Cocteau's stamp, and he even directed one scene (at the beach) when Melville fell ill. Full Review

Jon Fortgang
March 3, 2008
Jon Fortgang, Film4

A fascinating collaboration between two of French cinema's great talents which, in its strange atmosphere, poetic dialogue and creepy tone, has lost none of its ability to shock or compel. Full Review

Phil Villarreal
August 13, 2007
Phil Villarreal, Arizona Daily Star

French cinema legends Jean-Pierre Melville and Jean Cocteau collaborated to cast a hypnotic spell. Full Review

Dan Callahan
July 18, 2007
Dan Callahan, Slant Magazine

Les Enfants Terribles is very much a fantasy, an accumulation of suggestive, slightly obscure visual details, offset somewhat by Cocteau's too-literary, over-explicit narration. Full Review

February 23, 2012
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

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