Drama

The Strange Ones

- 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.

Release Date : 1950-03-29

Language :EnglishFrench

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Melville Productions

Production Country : France

Alternative Titles : The Strange Ones

Cast

Character Name : Elisabeth

Original Name : Nicole Stéphane

Gender : Female

Character Name : Paul

Original Name : Edouard Dermithe

Gender : Male

Character Name : Dargelos / Agathe

Original Name : Renée Cosima

Gender : Female

Character Name : Gerard

Original Name : Jacques Bernard

Gender : Male

Character Name : Narrator (voice)

Original Name : Jean Cocteau

Gender : Male

Character Name : Michael

Original Name : Melvyn Martin

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mother

Original Name : Maria Cyliakus

Gender : Male

Character Name : Headmaster

Original Name : Jean-Marie Robain

Gender : Male

Character Name : Doctor

Original Name : Maurice Revel

Gender : Male

Character Name :

Original Name : Rachel Devirys

Gender : Female

Character Name : Mariette

Original Name : Adeline Aucoc

Gender : Female

Character Name : Vice Principal

Original Name : Emile Mathys

Gender : Male

Character Name : Gerard's Uncle

Original Name : Roger Gaillard

Gender : Male

Character Name : Model

Original Name : Annabel Buffet

Gender : Female

Character Name : Mother

Original Name : Karin Lannby

Gender : Male

Character Name :

Original Name : Hélène Rémy

Gender : Female

Character Name : Young schoolboy

Original Name : Pierre Benichou

Gender : Male

Reviews

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2022-12-27

"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.