MovieChat Forums > Les enfants terribles (1952) Discussion > I prefered Dreamers!

I prefered Dreamers!

posted 14 years ago by barramon-m
6 replies | jump to latest

I must admit straight off that I'm a huge Dreamers fan. When I heard about Les Enfants Terribles I was really excited to see where Gilbert Adair had gotten his inspiration. However, despite really wanting to enjoy the film, I just didn't.

I know Nicole Stéphane's acting has been praised, but I found it too false. The whole time I just saw her as an actor not a character. She seemed too grumpy and was too unlikeable, which is where my main problem with the film lies. The theme of incestuous siblings is obviously controversial, but there's no point in making a film about it if it's going to just show it as a negative. I commend the love between the brother and sister being subtle, but Melville (or Cocteau -who ever's choice it was) never shows the relationship as a positives thing. The brother's deceleration of love for Elisabeth is merely a tragic event. In my opinion The Dreamers was more effective because it romanticized the relationship (I'm a very strong realist, but here I make a huge exception) and then concluded with a tragic end, resulting in a satisfying equilibrium. Although I welcome the tragedy of Les Enfants Terribles, for me, it lacked contrast and left me a little bored with no interest in the characters.

Let me know what you thought. I'm open to persuasion!!

[–] Theora23 14 years ago

A good post and I will come up with a thoughtful reply soon-ish. I just didn't want your post to go ignored for long. :-)

[–] barramon-m 14 years ago

Thank you Theora23. I look forward to hearing your opinion.

[–] Theora23 14 years ago

I also much preferred "The Dreamers". I didn't like the casting or performances in "Les Enfants Terribles", although the film overall had a nice literary quality. I don't yet know if the things I like most are because of Cocteau or Melville, because I haven't tackled the book yet, but I felt obliged to watch it because of its role as inspiration to Adair.

I know it's not really fair to compare the two, but the sibling relationship in "The Dreamers" felt warmly claustrophobic, like a greenhouse. In "Les Enfants Terribles it seemed cold and strange to me; I had a harder time understanding how les enfants grew so close.

[–] Tchoutoye 12 years ago

The Dreamers is annoying in its sentimentality and nostalgia for the soixante-huitard era.

[–] nu_riot 12 years ago

You thought Lise was an unrealistic character because she seemed "too grumpy and was too unlikeable"? What kind of reality are you living in?

Also, this is not a film about incestuous siblings. At no point is it suggest that Elisabeth and Paul want to have sex with each other. The only mention of incest is at the end of the book where Cocteau speaks of their souls intertwining in the afterlife. The Dreamers is a different movie with a different theme.

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[–] PsychoDingo 11 years ago

Melville (or Cocteau -who ever's choice it was) never shows the relationship as a positives thing

having a sister who serves as a live-in nurse, who will even get out of bed at night to help, is positive

when Paul said he wanted Elizabeth to be closer to him, with no apparent sexual subtext, it suggested that they had a bond that was at least somewhat positive and nurturing on an emotional or spiritual level

when Paul moved much of the old bedroom to the big house, Elizabeth was nostalgic and seemed to express a bit of regret for her choice to move out, meaning there was likely something positive, from the shared room days, that she was missing in the new living situation

I do agree that Elizabeth was a bit much. I've known a few people who behaved like her, though, so her personality doesn't seem "false" to me, but I do wonder how/why anyone put up with her crap. Perhaps French people are cool with people who are that way. Nurse or no nurse, I would have stayed put and changed the locks when she moved out of the first house.

It's alright Cissy. I sterilized the scissors.