I have been a passionate Cocteau fan since I first saw “Belle et Bete” and “Orpheé” in film school many, many years ago. I even own an original Cocteau pencil sketch from one of his notebooks. So I find it curious that this is one Cocteau film I had yet to see (along with “Les Parents Terribles” which was made two years before this).Based on Cocteau’s novel of the same name, this 1950 film lists Jean-Pierre Melville as director, but it seems that he was there mostly as a technician. The film is completely steeped in Cocteau’s sensibility—not so surreal as other works of his but "real life" off kilter just enough to make us slightly dizzy. The story of an intense relationship between a brother and a sister, it is claustrophobic and simmers with a dangerous, repressed mania. Nicole Stéphane is amazing as the sister who slowly comes unhinged until, in the final scene, she is literally tearing the hair from her own head in madness. There are only a few moments of Cocteau’s famous special effects (in one, we are pulled away from a scene, along with an actor, to show how removed he is from the action) but the film abounds with odd camera angles and quick pans.
I saw the Criterion Collection version which is newly restored and features Around Jean Cocteau (2003), a short video by filmmaker Noel Simsolo discussing Cocteau and Melville’s creative relationship (the conclusion is that Melville’s role was as a sort of assistant to Cocteau), as well as a moving 2003 interview with Nicole Stéphane. This is a must for Cocteau fans or those who study the history of cinema.
Recommend? Yes.
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