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Directed by Pierre Billon,but actually Cocteau's touch can be felt here there and everywhere.Cocteau has always loved to adapt great lit classics:"l'éternel retour" was a modern transcription of "Tristan and Iseut";"Beauty and the Beast" ,his masterpiece,tackled Madame Leprince de Beaumont's fairy-tale;Later Madame de la Fayette's "la princesse de Clèves" was brought to the screen .Here Victor Hugo's "Ruy Blas".Jean Marais is ideal as the romantic hero,and he forms with Danielle Darrieux a couple the crowds could easily dream of.That kind of couple queen-and-jack,we will find it again in "l'aigle à deux têtes",except that the jack has been replaced by an anarchist,but that does not make a big difference when you're depicting romantic passion.The setting in the palace are as extravagant as in any of other Cocteau creations.Billon ,avoiding filmed theater,gets his camera out of it and achieves good location shots in the torrent.Jean Marais plays two roles like in "Beauty and the beast",but his part of a brigand who resembles the student/jack like a brother is not as convincing.
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