Les Enfants Terribles (1950)

Synopsis
Adapted by Jean Cocteau from his own novel, Les Enfants Terribles is set in motion when a sensitive youth, Paul (Edouard Dermit), is injured by a snowball flung by school bully Dargelos (Renée Cosima, an actress in male drag). The bully later reappears in the form of a young girl, Agathe (played again by Cosima), with whom Paul becomes infatuated. This arouses the displeasure of Paul's sister, Elisabeth (Nicole Stephane), who also harbors a carnal desire for her brother. Elisabeth arranges to destroy Paul's romance, forcing Agathe to marry another. The sister gets her comeuppance in a perversely indirect fashion at the hands of the male bully Dargelos. Les Enfants Terrible was the directorial debut of Jean Cocteau protégé Jean-Pierre Melville; Cocteau himself directed one crucial scene. The film was completed in 1952, but not released in the U.S. until 1975. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide