Les Enfants Terribles
August 2007 Reviewed by: Mischa Hayek Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Fans of classic European cinema will be thrilled to discover that the Criterion Collection has remastered and released Jean-Pierre Melville’s Les Enfants Terribles (1950), based on the classic 1929 novel by surrealist author Jean Cocteau about the bizarre relationship between a brother and sister and the disasters that befall those who get between them. It has many of the characteristics of the surreal style: dream sequences and characters completely motivated and controlled by their emotions, with logic almost entirely absent.

Cocteau and Melville adapted Les Enfants Terribles (English translation: "The Bad Children") for the screen. In it, Paul (Edouard Dermithe) and Elizabeth (Nicole Stéphane) are a teenage brother and sister in love with each other and, we suspect, having a sexual relationship. They often refer to something called "the game," but we are not quite sure what it is. Nothing they do seems serious. They just play at insulting and abusing one another. Friends are brought in to observe and participate in their abusive rituals, in particular Paul’s schoolmate Gerard (Jacques Bernard). When Paul and Elizabeth’s mother dies, Elizabeth goes to work as a model and meets Agathe (Renée Cosima), whom she convinces almost immediately to move in with them. But Agathe closely resembles Dargelos (also played by Renée Cosima), a boy on whom Paul had a crush at school, and soon Paul and Agathe begin to have feelings for each other. At the same time, Elizabeth meets a rich young man, Michael (Melvyn Martin), whom she quickly marries. When Michael is accidentally killed in a car crash, Elizabeth invites Paul, Agathe, and Gerard to move in to her 16-room mansion. As Paul and Agathe grow closer, Elizabeth realizes that she may lose Paul, and she diabolically schemes to prevent it.

Criterion is renowned for taking established classics and other critically acclaimed films and giving them a first-class restoration and transfer using the best available film prints. Criterion then loads the DVD release with interesting and rare interviews and other bonus materials. This release includes an audio commentary by writer, film critic, and journalist Gilbert Adair; interviews with producer Carole Weisweiller and actor Nicole Stephane; a short video by Noel Simsolo, Around Jean Cocteau (2003); a theatrical trailer; and a gallery of behind-the-scenes stills.

The black-and-white image is sharp and clear with good contrast. I noticed several thin vertical lines occasionally running down the screen -- flaws from the original print -- but rather than detracting from the experience they reminded me that I was watching a film that was more than half a century old -- and that many of the great films of the past are slowly deteriorating. The sound is mono, but strong and clear. The original recording limitations did not diminish either my enjoyment of the soundtrack, which included concertos by Bach and Vivaldi, or the perfect diction of the film’s omniscient narrator -- Jean Cocteau himself.

Les Enfants Terribles is classic French cinema and a unique collaboration of two of France’s great artists. It is fortunate for us that Criterion has put together this definitive DVD release.

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