329. Les Infants terribles

Les Infants terribles
The Holy Terrors
Jean Cocteau
1929
Around 180 pages

This may be the only time we've had an overlap of an author on the 1001 List and a director on the 1001 movie list. I've always loved crossover episodes. I made plenty of enemies on the 1001 movie list, who I would be horrified to have show up on this blog. The thought of Fellini with a pen makes me feel faint with terror. But Jean Cocteau is a welcome recurring character.

Elisabeth cares for her ailing mother and her younger brother Paul, who takes a stone snowball to the chest early on in the novel. European schoolchildren are so mean. Elisabeth and Paul have a strange relationship, where they both try to get under each other's skin and have the last word. Elisabeth is strangely jealous when Paul falls in love with Agathe, who, incidentally, bears a strong resemblance to the stone snowball thrower. 

I sensed Cocteau was building up to an action-packed climax but I have to say, I did not expect that. I suppose it falls under the category of surrealism, which I typically dislike. But I really enjoyed this. Who knew surrealism would allow for such a coherent story? Paul and Elisabeth were both fascinating characters, Elisabeth a little more so. She walked so Cersei Lannister could run.

Short and strange, like yours truly.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Illustrated by the author's own drawings.

UP NEXT: The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. Warning, I fucking hate this guy.