The Films of Jean-Pierre Melville: Les Enfants Terribles (1950)

Les Enfants Terribles (1950) 

Directed by: Jean-Pierre Melville   

Written by: Jean Cocteau based on his novel.

Starring: Nicole Stéphane (Elisabeth), Edouard Dermithe (Paul), Renée Cosima (Dargelos / Agathe), Jacques Bernard (Gerard), Melvyn Martin (Michael), Maria Cyliakus (The Mother), Jean-Marie Robain (Headmaster), Maurice Revel (Doctor), Jean Cocteau (Narrator).

 

There has been a longstanding debate about what in Les Enfants Terribles is the doing of director Jean-Pierre Melville, making only his second film at the time, and what belongs to Jean Cocteau, whose novel the movie is based, and who wrote the screenplay and even provides the narration for the movie. Cocteau apparently chose Melville because he liked his debut film, another adaptation - Le Silence de la Mer – but perhaps Cocteau thought that he could better control a younger director working on the material – and some even think Cocteau was hoping to push Melville out and direct it himself (why he didn’t, I don’t know – he was certainly an accomplished director at that time).

 

What is Melville and what is Cocteau in the movie is less important, than the film itself – but it does perhaps explain why the film is as uneven as it is. Cocteau apparently was the one who insisted that Edouard Dermithe be cast in the male lead of Paul – which hurts the film, because Dermithe is both too old and too bland to make you overlook the fact that he is too old. The film is essentially a series of perverse games between Paul and his sister Elisabeth – played by Nicole Stéphane, but it’s clear from the start who is going to win these game – Paul doesn’t have a chance against the much smarter Elisabeth, and Stephane acts circle around everyone else in the film. The film struggles in other ways – like when it tries to open things up a little. Like Le Silence de lar Mer, the film works best when it traps its characters in a room together, and doesn’t let them out.

 

The film is heavy on subtext. The film certainly plays with the idea of incest between Elisabeth and Paul, as they lock themselves away in a room by themselves – and pretty much stay there. The film’s gay subtext is fairly clear – especially for a film made in 1950 – as it is quite clear that Paul is in love with Dargelos – the schoolboy who injures Paul with a snowball with a stone in it, and in turn, Gerard is in love with Paul – Gerard brings Paul home after this injury, and then pretty much doesn’t leave. To make it even more clear, Renee Cosima plays both Dargelos and Agathe – the model that Elisabeth befriends, and then brings home to this house they are sharing, and of course, Paul falls for Agathe as well. Elisabeth’s own outside relationship is short-lived – she marries Michael (Melvyn Martin) – a wealthy American Jew, who leaves them the house in which they play when he dies shortly after the marriage – the narrator telling us that she married him for his death.

 

The film is basically about how these two siblings needle each other – and then bring Gerard and Agathe into their relationship as their playthings. Jealously erupts when Paul tries to assert his independence – first he moves out of their shared room, only to be followed to his new room, and then by confessing his love for Agathe – not to her, but in a letter that he puts the wrong name on, and then to Elisabeth – who sensing she is going to lose Paul, acts drastically – leading as it must to tragedy.

 

If you really wanted to determine whose film this is more – Melville or Cocteau, you probably have to side with the latter – it doesn’t really resemble anything that Melville ever made again, but you certainly see a lot of Cocteau in it. Melville is perhaps most present in the storytelling – he always seems to delight in setting things up in small details, and then letting them play out in front of our eyes.

 

Les Enfants Terribles in an uneven film.  Dermithe is horribly miscast (I learned after the movie that the character in the book is supposed to 14 when it begins – Dermithe is at least a decade too old, and it changes everything about his character – his actions makes sense for an impulsive teenager – not so much for someone older). But it’s a well-directed film, and a well-written one – and contains a killer performance by Stéphane. The questions over its auteur status make for fascinating conversation as well – even if they are ultimately pointless. A curiosity piece for fans of both Melville and Cocteau.