LE BEAU SERGE (Criterion/eOne, 1958) D: Claude Chabrol, w/ Gérard Blain, Jean-Claude Brialy. Rating: NNNN DVD package: NNNN
LES COUSINS (1959) D: Chabrol, w/ Blain, Brialy. Rating: NNNN DVD package: NNN Rating: NNNN
These are the movies that launched the French New Wave. With their commitment to a personal sensibility, stories of youth and location shooting, they set in motion a cinematic revolution whose influence spread worldwide and is still felt today.
In both movies, director Claude Chabrol explores friendships, power relations, hidden agendas and social environments, so the films almost mirror each other. In Le Beau Serge, François (Jean-Claude Brialy) returns to the village of his childhood to find his boyhood friend, Serge (Gérard Blain) an embittered drunk. He tries to help. Les Cousins has country mouse Blain come to Paris to study law and live with hipster cousin Brialy. But they want the same girl.
Commentaries and essays on both films reveal a lot about Chabrol’s themes and methods and the films’ production histories.
EXTRAS Le Beau Serge: commentary, Chabrol interview, Chabrol doc, essay booklet. Full frame, b&w. French audio. English subtitles. Les Cousins: commentary, essay booklet. Full frame, b&w. French audio. English subtitles.
