Les Cousins (1959)

A pair of cousins share a flat, but animosity begins to build between the two when a woman gets involved.

Director:

Claude Chabrol

Writers:

Claude Chabrol (scenario), Paul Gégauff (dialogue)

Stars:

Gérard Blain, Jean-Claude Brialy, Juliette Mayniel

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gérard Blain	...	Charles
Jean-Claude Brialy	...	Paul Thomas
Juliette Mayniel	...	Florence
Guy Decomble	...	Le libraire
Geneviève Cluny	...	Geneviève
Michèle Méritz	...	Yvonne
Corrado Guarducci	...	Italian Count Minerva
Stéphane Audran	...	Françoise
Paul Bisciglia	...	Marc
Jeanne Pérez	...	La femme de ménage
Françoise Vatel	...	Martine
André Chanal
Gilbert Edard
Clara Gansard
Jean-Louis Maury	...	Un étudiant joueur de bridge

Storyline

Charles is a young provincial coming up to Paris to study law. He shares his cousin Paul's flat. Paul is a kind of decadent boy, a disillusioned pleasure-seeker, always dragging along with other idles, while Charles is a plodding, naive and honest man. He fell in love with Florence, one of Paul's acquaintances. But how will Paul react to that attempt to build a real love relationship ? One of the major New Wave films.

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Plot Keywords:

student | boys and girls | russian roulette | paris france | french new wave | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French German

Release Date:

23 November 1959 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Cousins

Filming Locations:

Studios de Boulogne-Billancourt/SFP - 2 Rue de Silly, Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Box Office

Budget:

FRF 6,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ajym Films, Société Française du Cinéma pour la Jeunesse

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min 108 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first film that director Claude Chabrol and screenwriter Paul Gégauff would collaborate together on. Gégauff would go on to script over a dozen of Chabrol's films.

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Quotes

Paul Thomas: I can imagine you two discussing art history. But once in the sack...
Florence: You're the one who doesn't understand. With him I don't have to think about that.
Paul Thomas: About what?
Florence: The sack.
Paul Thomas: You see? Then what's in it for you?
Florence: There's more to life than sex.
Paul Thomas: My foot.

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Connections

References The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

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Soundtracks

La chevauchée des Walkyries (extrait de La Walkyrie)
Music by Richard Wagner
Performed by Wiener Philharmoniker (as Orhcestre Philharmonique de Vienne)
Conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch
Disque DECCA

User Reviews

Important and enjoyable

Chabrol's second film, made months after his first Le Beau Serge, and a more mature film director is evident. Helped, no doubt by those he gathered around him notably on script and camera, while the first film had charm and passion, this has that and more. Not only is this an interesting and intriguing tale of student life and affairs late 50s, the way it is shot opens up a whole new world of cinema. At least for the next five years this new Wave would dominate French cinema and also influence most of the world's cinema. With a fluid camera movement, jump cuts and an emphasis on 'real' people, having fun, being serious about politics, smoking all the time and having sex, cinema would, as they say never be the same again. Les Cousins is all of the above and entertains and amuses. Chabrol has complete control of the music this time, which works very well - even if it includes youngsters dancing around to Wagner! Important and enjoyable - can't say fair than that.