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The Strange Ones

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6.7/10 • 111

1950-03-291h 47m

Drama

A love story by Jean Cocteau

Elisabeth and her brother Paul live isolated from much of the world after Paul is injured in a snowball fight. As a coping mechanism, the two conjure up a hermetic dream of their own making. Their relationship, however, isn't exactly wholesome. Jealousy and a malevolent undercurrent intrude on their fantasy when Elisabeth invites the strange Agathe to stay with them -- and Paul is immediately attracted to her.

Directors
Jean-Pierre Melville
Writters
Jean-Pierre Melville, Jean Cocteau
Editors
Jean-Pierre Melville, Monique Bonnot

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Nicole Stéphane

    Nicole Stéphane

    Elisabeth

  2. Edouard Dermithe

    Edouard Dermithe

    Paul

  3. Renée Cosima

    Renée Cosima

    Dargelos / Agathe

  4. Jacques Bernard

    Jacques Bernard

    Gerard

  5. Jean Cocteau

    Jean Cocteau

    Narrator (voice)

  6. Melvyn Martin

    Melvyn Martin

    Michael

  7. Maria Cyliakus

    Maria Cyliakus

    Mother

  8. Jean-Marie Robain

    Jean-Marie Robain

    Headmaster

  9. Maurice Revel

    Maurice Revel

    Doctor

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Dec 27, 2022

6/10

"Paul" (Edouard Dermithe) is a young man who comes off rather badly after a snowball fight; one finds it's mark necessitating a visit from their doctor who advises bedrest - on a pretty permanent basis! He is to be looked after by his sister "Elisabeth" (Nicole Stéphane) with whom he shares a room. What now ensues is a hybrid of the sibling and the marital as their love to hate to love relationship, bordering on the incestuous (but never actually more than bordering) evolves. Both characters are handsome to look at, there are undercurrents of homosexuality and depravity - moral, certainly, physical less so - but I have to say I found the whole thing just a bit on the sterile side. It's not that their relationship together, nor with the rather unattractive "Dargelos" (Renée Cosima) needed any sort of visual consummation - it doesn't; but there is little if any chemistry to raise this above a rather statically, though beatifically crafted, story of people who can't live with, or without, each other. i am certainly no expert on Cocteau on Melville, but I ought not to have to be - this film should be able to stand it's own merits, and for me it is just a rather extended, unremarkable family squabble, with occasionally pithy but all to frequently petulant dialogue that 70 years after lacks any real potency.

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  • The Strange Ones poster
  • The Strange Ones poster
  • The Strange Ones poster
  • The Strange Ones poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
French
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
sibling relationshipobsessionmale homosexualityincestorphan siblings