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actors, who have previously played their roles together many times on stage and are able to inhabit their characters as if by second nature, allow them to maintain an intensity of performance despite the fragmentation of the film-making process. Second, Cocteau shows unusual freedom in his choice of camera positions and movements, seldom resorting to the conventional means of filming dialogue with reverse angle shots, and introducing close-ups and long shots with a sureness of touch that never disrupts the movement of the scene; the spectator is always placed in the position of a witness to the action (as in the theatre), rather than a participant, and even that of a voyeur, given the intimacy of the camera's gaze. Third, Bazin notes the psychological subtlety with which
Cocteau chooses his camera positions to match the responses of his 'ideal spectator'. He cites an example of the shot in which Michel tells Yvonne about the girl he loves, his face placed above hers and both facing the audience, just as they had done in the theatre; but in the film Cocteau uses a close-up which shows only the eyes of Yvonne below and the speaking mouth of Michel above, concentrating the image for the greatest emotional impact. In all of these aspects, the theatricality of the play is preserved but intensified through the medium of film.
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son (who returns her immoderate affection and calls her "Sophie"); Georges distractedly pursues his eccentric inventions; it is left to LĂ©o to preserve such order as she can in their life and their apartment, which she describes as a "gypsy caravan" ("la roulotte"). When Michel announces that he is in love with a girl, Madeleine, whom he wishes to introduce to them, his parents are immediately hostile and seek to forbid the relationship, reducing Michel to despair. Georges realises that
Madeleine is the same woman who has been his own mistress in recent months, and he confesses all to LĂ©o, who devises a plan to extricate father and son by forcing Madeleine into silent surrender of them both.
313:). He wrote no additional dialogue for the film, but substantially pruned the stage text, making the drama more concentrated. He did however reinvent the staging of the play for the camera, employing frequent boldly framed close-ups of his actors, and he made full use of a mobile camera to roam through the rooms of the apartment, emphasising the claustrophobic atmosphere of the setting. The translation from theatre to screen was a challenge which Cocteau relished: he wrote, "What is exciting about the cinema is that there is no syntax. You have to invent it as and when problems arise. What freedom for the artist and what results one can obtain!".
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Bray, Gabrielle
Dorziat, and Jean Marais. Cocteau said that he wanted to film his play for three reasons. "First, to record the performances of incomparable actors; second, mingle with them myself and look them full in the face instead of seeing them at a distance on the stage. I wanted to put my eye to the keyhole and surprise them with a telescopic lens."
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When the film was first shown in France in
December 1948, the critical reception of it was overwhelmingly favourable and Cocteau was repeatedly congratulated on having produced an original piece of cinema out of a work of the theatre: for example, "It is what one may rightly call pure cinema... The
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In a rambling apartment a middle-aged couple, Yvonne and
Georges, live with their 22-year-old son Michel and Yvonne's spinster sister LĂ©onie ("tante LĂ©o"), who has also been in love with Georges. Yvonne is a reclusive semi-invalid, dependent on her insulin treatment, and intensely possessive of her
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The next day LĂ©o persuades
Georges, and then the more reluctant Yvonne, that the only way to rescue the inconsolable Michel is to allow him to marry Madeleine. Michel and Madeleine are joyfully reunited, but Yvonne is unnoticed as she slips away and poisons herself. When the others realise what she
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The family visit
Madeleine in her apartment where they are impressed by her modest and well-disciplined manner. Michel's initial joy at this apparent reconciliation turns to despair as Madeleine is blackmailed into rejecting him by Georges's secret threats. Yvonne consoles her son with satisfaction
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was first produced in Paris in 1938, but its run suffered from a number of disruptions, first from censorship and then the outbreak of war. In 1946 it was revived in a production which brought together several of the actors for whom
Cocteau had originally conceived their roles, notably Yvonne de
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wrote a detailed review of the film in which he took up the idea of "pure cinema" and tried to analyse how
Cocteau had succeeded in creating it out of the most uncinematic material imaginable. Bazin highlights three features which assist this transition. First, the confidence and harmony of the
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At the time of shooting the final shot (where one sees the apartment receding into the distance), some insecure tracks for the camera produced a shaky image on the film. Rather than reshoot the scene, Cocteau made a virtue of the problem by adding the sound of carriage wheels on the soundtrack
472:. (Paris: Seghers, 1989.) p.164: "Ce qu'il y a de passionant au cinéma, c'est qu'il n'y a pas de syntaxe. On est obligé de l'inventer au fur et à mesure que les problèmes se posent. Quelle liberté pour l'artiste et quels résultats on peut obtenir!"
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which filled the spaces of the apartment with objects and décor - awkward heavy furniture, piles of trinkets and ornaments, pictures crooked on the walls, unmade beds, and dust - which described the way in which the characters lived.
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Cocteau refuted however the suggestion of some critics that this was a realist film, pointing out that he had never known any family like the one portrayed, and insisting that it was "painting of the most imaginative kind."
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together with some words (spoken by himself) to suggest a deliberate effect: "And the caravan continued on its way. The gypsies do not stop" ("Et la roulotte continuait sa route. Les romanichels ne s'arrĂŞtent pas").
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Cocteau made the decision that his film would be strictly faithful to the writing of the play and that he would not open it up from its prescribed settings (as he had done in his previous adaptation,
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as his best film, at least from a technical point of view. This opinion has frequently been endorsed by later critics and historians of cinema.
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ne sont pas un film réaliste puisque je n'ai jamais connu aucune famille vivant de la sorte. C'est la peinture la plus imaginative qui soit."
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as they return home. LĂ©o however is appalled by the cruelty and selfishness of what has been done and decides to support
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451:. (Paris: Belfond, 1973.) p.56: "Tout en me promenant à travers des chambres, je conservais l'atmosphère enfermée de la pièce".
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Filming took place between 28 April and 3 July 1948 at the Studio Francœur. Cocteau's assistant director was
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Another significant contribution to the atmosphere of the film was the art direction by
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Le Cinéma de Jean Cocteau... actes du colloque...: textes réunis par Christian Rolot...
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Entretiens sur le cinématographe: édition établie par André Bernard et Claude Gauteur
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André Bazin, "Du théâtre transformé par la magie blanche et noire en pur cinéma", in
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has done, it is too late to save her. A new order is established in the "roulotte".
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correspondence between image and text has never been so complete, so convincing".
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sont, cinématographiquement parlant, ma grande réussite." - Jean Cocteau,
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485:. (Paris: Belfond, 1973.) p.57: "D'abord,
395:"Box Office Figures for Jean Marais films"
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603:..." ["After the war, his best film was
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523:, 6 déc.1948. See also Henri Magnan, in
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1143:Films with screenplays by Jean Cocteau
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1123:Films based on works by Jean Cocteau
298:(voice - uncredited) : Narrator
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418:. (London: Constable, 1986.) p.474.
552:, 1948; reprinted in René Gilson,
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726:Les Chevaliers de la Table ronde
539:. (Paris: Seghers, 1989.) p.165.
1092:Notre-Dame-de-Jérusalem, Fréjus
573:. (Paris: Belfond, 1973.) p.55.
1133:Films directed by Jean Cocteau
1:
1138:Films scored by Georges Auric
913:Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne
531:, 8 déc. 1948. All quoted in
197:2,256,777 admissions (France)
1158:French black-and-white films
996:Les mariés de la tour Eiffel
597:Le Cinéma français 1890/1962
212:film adaptation directed by
1163:1940s French-language films
1128:French films based on plays
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565:"Je dois admettre que les
1012:Le jeune homme et la mort
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464:, 18 mai 1948; quoted in
280: : Yvonne ("Sophie")
152:1 December 1948
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846:The Eagle with Two Heads
216:from his own stage play
359:Cocteau came to regard
945:La Princesse de Clèves
809:Opium: Diary of a Cure
554:Jean Cocteau, cinéaste
292: : LĂ©onie ("LĂ©o")
929:Les Enfants terribles
870:La Villa Santo-Sospir
854:Les Parents terribles
801:Les Enfants terribles
734:Les Parents terribles
686:Le Gendarme incompris
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605:Les Parents terribles
487:Les Parents terribles
432:Les Parents terribles
374:Les Parents terribles
361:Les Parents terribles
236:Les Parents terribles
234:Cocteau's stage play
219:Les Parents terribles
205:Les Parents terribles
22:Les Parents terribles
1071:Jean Cocteau: A Life
878:Testament of Orpheus
838:Beauty and the Beast
766:L'Aigle Ă deux tĂŞtes
710:The Infernal Machine
584:Cocteau: a biography
533:Claude-Jean Philippe
466:Claude-Jean Philippe
416:Cocteau: a biography
332:, who was joined by
310:L'Aigle Ă deux tĂŞtes
63:Alexandre Mnouchkine
1082:Jean Cocteau Museum
988:Le BĹ“uf sur le toit
953:Thomas the Impostor
830:The Blood of a Poet
750:La Machine Ă Ă©crire
742:Les Monstres sacrés
500:Histoires de ma vie
412:Francis Steegmuller
1168:1940s French films
1148:French drama films
1097:The Orphic Trilogy
1077:Jean Cocteau House
718:L'École des veuves
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330:Raymond Leboursier
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601:Parents terribles
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460:Jean Cocteau, in
290:Gabrielle Dorziat
274: : Madeleine
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169:Running time
145:Release date
98:Jean Cocteau
85:Marcel André
49:Jean Cocteau
40:Jean Cocteau
1087:Jean Marais
1039:Oedipus rex
353:André Bazin
272:Josette Day
266:Jean Marais
173:100 minutes
95:Narrated by
89:Josette Day
73:Jean Marais
54:Produced by
36:Directed by
1118:1948 films
1112:Categories
513:cinéma pur
382:References
303:Production
230:Background
194:Box office
156:1948-12-01
46:Written by
529:Carrefour
521:Cinémonde
113:Edited by
1031:Antigone
921:Ruy Blas
525:Le Monde
367:See also
186:Language
123:Music by
69:Starring
1058:Related
862:Orpheus
774:Bacchus
694:Orpheus
178:Country
154: (
139:(Paris)
1050:(1927)
1042:(1927)
1034:(1927)
1015:(1946)
1007:(1924)
999:(1921)
991:(1920)
983:(1917)
980:Parade
975:(1912)
956:(1965)
948:(1961)
940:(1951)
932:(1950)
924:(1948)
916:(1945)
908:(1943)
900:(1943)
881:(1960)
873:(1952)
865:(1950)
857:(1948)
849:(1948)
841:(1946)
833:(1932)
812:(1930)
804:(1929)
796:(1928)
777:(1951)
769:(1946)
761:(1943)
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737:(1938)
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721:(1936)
713:(1934)
705:(1930)
697:(1926)
689:(1921)
434:", in
189:French
181:France
785:Prose
678:Drama
519:, in
208:is a
626:IMDb
607:..."
260:Cast
243:Plot
210:1948
624:at
1114::
535:,
468:,
423:^
414:,
397:.
226:.
60:,
654:e
647:t
640:v
401:.
158:)
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