Les Parents Terribles

Making few alterations to his original text, Jean Cocteau proved here that it was possible to adapt a stage play and be inventively cinematic at the same time. The credits may roll over a theatre curtain, the acts may be divided by captions, and the action may be confined to two stylised sets. But Cocteau makes judicious use of telephoto lenses, rigid framing and precise editing throughout this tragicomic tale of dysfunction and sexual frustration. Thus he's able to register every twisted emotion and treacherous expression, as cossetted son Jean Marais breaks the shackles imposed by his eccentric parents (Marcel André and Yvonne de Bray) by defiantly dating Josette Day. De Bray excels as the domineering matriarch, whose world slowly falls apart as the skeletons tumble out of the family closet. This remains one of the finest examples of ensemble excellence in French screen history.