Review of The Cousins (1959) by Thomas P — 14 Apr 2016

This movie by French New Wave filmmaker Claude Chabrol has a pretty simple plot, but was enjoyable nonetheless. In a nutshell, Charles, an innocent and earnest young law student, moves to Paris from the provinces to live with Paul, his sophisticated, profligate cousin. He's immediately exposed to the party life, which is both wild (there is a lot of flirting and bottle smashing) and somewhat amusing (the young men are all in suits and ties, play Bridge in bars, and listen to Mozart and Wagner at parties). He falls for Florence, a woman who's been around, and while she wants to have a meaningful relationship, she's convinced by Paul and another friend that she'll find him boring. She ends up with Paul instead, and moves in with the two of them. Charles actually takes it quite well, sharing meals with them and doing his best to ignore them, for example, as they shower together. He gets a free book and great advice from a bookseller (study hard, and "Read Dostoyevsky - he addresses all your concerns!"), who was naturally my favorite character :). Exams loom, and while Charles tries to apply himself, Paul parties on. I won't spoil it any more than I already have.

This was one of those old movies that was anything but boring. The New Wave movement had as its aim to make movies that were different in content and style, and this succeeds; it's quite edgy for its time, and Chabrol has some great shot sequences here. Seeing it really transported me to the Latin Quarter in 1959 Paris.