I must admit that I am not well versed in French film. Until last week, I would probably not have been able to name a French director or a famous French film. The 1959 New Wave French film entitled Les Cousins, was the first feature-length French film I had ever seen; I enjoyed the film immensly. Director Claude Chebrol did a fine job of providing his audiences with an engaging film that posseses uniquely developed characters and a surprising conclusion.
There are three central characters in this film: Charles the student from the French countryside, Florence (Charles' love interest), and Charles' cousin Paul. The most interesting and uniquely developed character among those listed is Paul. Paul lives in Paris and his cousin Charles is sent to live with him while attending school in the city. These two characters are polar opposites: Charles is a dedicated student who is motivated to succeed in school, and Paul is a party-animal who cares for nothing more than good times, women, and alcohol. Paul provides a great deal of entertainment for the viewers of this film; but it is not his entertaining nature which is driving me to discuss him as a character of particular interest. There is more to Paul than lust, alchol, and parties.
Throughout the course of the film, one may notice that Paul has a fetish for guns and is an admirer of German culture. With Paul, Chebrol is successful in making various allusions to Nazism. At one of the parties, Paul begins playing a muscial piece by Wagner on his record player. To many, it is known that Wagner himself was a racist and was the Nazis' favourite composer. At that same party, Paul recites a poem in German while wearing what seemed to be a military hat that resembled one a Nazi official would have worn. In another instance, Paul and Charles return home and find their Jewish friend sleeping on the floor. In order to awaken him and frighten him, Paul yells in his ear "Gestapo," which was the secret police of Nazi Germany that, among many things, arrested jews.
The reason why Chabrol would use such allusions to Nazi Germany in his film is unclear to me; but I do have a faint idea. Early on in my life, I learned that France and Germany were enemies during the Second World War and Germany at one point controlled France. I believe that the presence of Nazi symbolism in Les Cousins may be a device Chabrol uses to foreshadow the unhealthy realtionship between Charles and Paul that comes later on in the film. In the case of Paul and Charles' relationship Paul is Germany and Charles is France.
Chabrol emphasizes the French author Balzac at one point in the film. As I discovered in class, Balzac wrote his novels about French countrymen moving to the city in pursuit of wealth and success. Ironically, this film follows a similiar storyline. Furthermore, it is very interesting how Charles and many of Balzac's characters are unsuccessful in their pursuit of success.
Earlier on, I mentioned that Paul had a gun fetish. It was very clever of Chabrol to give Paul such a fetish. With this fetish, Chabrol prepares the audience for the accidental murder of Charles by Paul at the end of the movie. I must admit that I predicted one of the characters would commit a murder, but the way it happened surprised me. The bullet that was meant for Paul ended up in Charles. The whole movie is a series of unfortunate events for Charles. In the end, Charles' misfortune continues when he loses a game of Russian roulette.
Although I really enjoyed this film, I feel as if Chabrol is undermining hardwork. Throughout the whole film, it is the hardworker who is unfortunate and the lazy party-boy who succeeds. After seeing that film I felt like I should quit studying and leave my future in the hands of lust, parties, and booze; but of course, we all know that in reality, Paul's path does not yield the best results.
This film was a joy to watch. I was disappointed to discover that we would not be viewing many more of Chabrol's films. However, after seeing Les Cousins I am looking forward to viewing many more French New Wave films.
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