# Les Cousins
*Les Cousins* (international title: *The Cousins*) is a 1959 French black-and-white drama directed by Claude Chabrol, in which a diligent provincial student, Charles (Gérard Blain), moves to Paris to study law with his hedonistic cousin Paul (Jean-Claude Brialy), and the two become rivals for the same woman, Florence (Juliette Mayniel), with fatal results.[1](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/les_Cousins/2565) • [2](https://cineuropa.org/fr/film/401016/) It won the [Golden Bear](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-bear) at the 1959 Berlin Film Festival and was a major early success of the [French New Wave](https://www.edgepedia.org/french-new-wave).[1](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/les_Cousins/2565)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director, year | Claude Chabrol, France, 1959; his second feature[1](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/les_Cousins/2565) • [3](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/93510--the-cousins-les-cousins/) |
| French release | 11 March 1959; CNC visa 21355, 110 min, 2,978 m of film[4](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification?visa=21355) |
| Principal cast | Gérard Blain (Charles), Jean-Claude Brialy (Paul), Juliette Mayniel (Florence), Claude Cerval (Clovis)[1](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/les_Cousins/2565) |
| Key crew | Screenplay Chabrol; dialogue Paul Gégauff; cinematography Henri Decaë; music Paul Misraki with pre-existing Mozart and Wagner; editing Jacques Gaillard[1](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/les_Cousins/2565) • [5](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47387.html) |
| Award | Golden Bear (Ours d'or), Berlin 1959[1](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/les_Cousins/2565) |
| Paris box office | Premiered at the Colisée and Marivaux, ran 14 weeks, 258,548 tickets sold in Paris alone[6](https://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/marie3.pdf) |
| Production | Ajym Films (Paris), produced by Chabrol; original distributor Les Films Marceau[5](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47387.html) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Charles, a shy, serious young man from the provinces, arrives in Paris to complete his law degree and lives with his cousin Paul, a boastful, lazy student who leads a dissolute life in Neuilly.[2](https://cineuropa.org/fr/film/401016/) • [1](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/les_Cousins/2565) Charles falls in love with Florence, one of Paul's circle. On the advice of Clovis, a family friend and parasite, Paul decides to break up the idyll and seduces Florence himself, installing her in the apartment.[2](https://cineuropa.org/fr/film/401016/) • [1](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/les_Cousins/2565)
Charles takes refuge in his books but fails his examination, while Paul, despite his lack of attendance, passes brilliantly.[2](https://cineuropa.org/fr/film/401016/) Desperate, Charles loads a revolver with a single bullet and points it at Paul to test his luck one last time; the gun does not fire. Paul, unaware that the revolver is loaded, fires it in Charles's direction, and Charles falls dead.[2](https://cineuropa.org/fr/film/401016/)
## Relation to Le Beau Serge
*Les Cousins* is the urban counterpart of Chabrol's debut *Le Beau Serge* (1958), reversing that film's situation while reusing its two lead actors.[1](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/les_Cousins/2565) In *Le Beau Serge* a young man from the city (Brialy) visits a friend (Blain) in the country; in *Les Cousins* a student from the country (Blain) comes to stay with his cousin (Brialy) in Paris, and in each film the new environment proves too much for the visitor.[7](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1989-les-cousins-the-nature-of-the-beast) Chabrol had in fact written both scripts at around the same time and made the less complex one first.[7](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1989-les-cousins-the-nature-of-the-beast) The two films opened in Paris only a month apart, *Le Beau Serge* on 2 February 1959 and *Les Cousins* on 11 March.[8](https://www.larousse.fr/archives/cinema/page/1086)
In the Larousse commentary, Charles becomes a Christ-like victim, not through any sense of superiority but through a provincial's inferiority complex.[1](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/les_Cousins/2565) The film also established what Larousse calls the Chabrolian universe and style: an objective description of society and people in which the direction alternately adopts each character's point of view, truth emerging from this accumulation of subjectivities.[1](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/les_Cousins/2565)
## Place in the French New Wave
*Les Cousins* was one of three 1959 films that gave the Nouvelle Vague commercial as well as aesthetic impact, alongside Truffaut's *Les 400 coups* and Godard's *À bout de souffle*.[9](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781526141286_A40541474/preview-9781526141286_A40541474.pdf) It premiered on 11 March 1959 at the Colisée and the Marivaux and ran for 14 weeks, selling 258,548 tickets in Paris alone, a result that did much better than *Le Beau Serge*.[6](https://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/marie3.pdf) Chabrol later grouped it among his successes: his first three films, *Le Beau Serge*, *Les Cousins*, and *A Double Tour*, did quite well, before a run of commercial failures.[10](https://psi329.cankaya.edu.tr/uploads/files/Yakir%2C%20The%20Magical%20Mystery%20World%20of%20Claude%20Chabrol%20%281979%29.pdf)
The film's contemporary reception was largely favorable. Jean de Baroncelli, reviewing it in *Le Monde* on 19 March 1959, judged it superior to *Le Beau Serge* and described it as the story of the one who is from the country and the one from the city, of the one who cheats and the one who does not, of the one who believes in love, work, and honesty and the one who refuses to believe in them, of the one who has luck and the one who does not.[11](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1959/03/19/les-cousins_2149818_1819218.html) [Jean-Luc Godard](https://www.edgepedia.org/jean-luc-godard) later characterized the film as "a deeply hollow and therefore profound film."[7](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1989-les-cousins-the-nature-of-the-beast)
## Production details
The film was produced by Chabrol's own company Ajym Films, with Philippe de Broca among the assistant directors, Henri Decaë as cinematographer, Jean Rabier as camera operator, and Jacques Saulnier and Bernard Evein as set designers.[5](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47387.html) The score combines original music by Paul Misraki with pre-existing works: Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in [G minor](https://www.edgepedia.org/g-minor) and Wagner excerpts including the Funeral March from *Götterdämmerung*, the Prelude and Liebestod from *Tristan und Isolde*, and the [Ride of the Valkyries](https://www.edgepedia.org/ride-of-the-valkyries).[5](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47387.html) Music in the film is especially associated with Paul, an eccentric music-loving law student living in an apartment in the 16th arrondissement.[12](https://www.applis.univ-tours.fr/theses/2014/remi.lecompte_4576.pdf)
The supporting cast includes Michèle Méritz (Yvonne), Geneviève Cluny, Corrado Guarducci as an Italian count, Stéphane Audran (Chabrol's wife) as Françoise, and Claude Cerval as Clovis.[13](https://www.criterion.com/films/27816-les-cousins) According to *Le Monde*, the character of Paul was inspired by [Jean-Marie Le Pen](https://www.edgepedia.org/jean-marie-le-pen), a party companion of Chabrol's in the late 1940s.[14](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/07/10/redecouvrir-le-cinema-de-claude-chabrol-observateur-de-la-mediocrite-humaine_6620464_3246.html)
## Versions and availability
Reported running times differ among reference sources: the CNC and Larousse list 110 minutes, Cineuropa and [JustWatch](https://www.edgepedia.org/justwatch) list 112 minutes, and the Criterion Collection lists 109 minutes.[4](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification?visa=21355) • [2](https://cineuropa.org/fr/film/401016/) • [13](https://www.criterion.com/films/27816-les-cousins) The film was released on DVD by the Criterion Collection in 2011 with an audio commentary by the film scholar Adrian Martin, and it streams on the Criterion Channel.[15](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb43804851b) • [16](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/les-cousins) In France, distribution rights have passed through several companies recorded by the CNC, including Cocinor, Teledis, Gaumont (2004–2023), and Tamasa Distribution from 2025.[4](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification?visa=21355)
## References
1. [Les Cousins, Larousse, Dictionnaire mondial des films](https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/film/les_Cousins/2565)
2. [Les Cousins, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/fr/film/401016/)
3. [The Cousins = Les Cousins, ACMI collection](https://www.acmi.net.au/works/93510--the-cousins-les-cousins/)
4. [LES COUSINS, fiche œuvre, CNC Visas et Classification](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification?visa=21355)
5. [Les Cousins (Claude Chabrol, 1959), La Cinémathèque française](https://www.cinematheque.fr/film/47387.html)
6. [Chapter from AVE3 (Blackwell Publishing), on Chabrol's early features](https://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/marie3.pdf)
7. [Terrence Rafferty, "Les cousins: The Nature of the Beast," Criterion Current, 2011](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1989-les-cousins-the-nature-of-the-beast)
8. [NOUVELLE VAGUE, Larousse archives, Dictionnaire du Cinéma](https://www.larousse.fr/archives/cinema/page/1086)
9. [Contemporary French Cinema: An Introduction (preview)](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9781526141286_A40541474/preview-9781526141286_A40541474.pdf)
10. [Dan Yakir, "The Magical Mystery World of Claude Chabrol: An Interview" (1979)](https://psi329.cankaya.edu.tr/uploads/files/Yakir%2C%20The%20Magical%20Mystery%20World%20of%20Claude%20Chabrol%20%281979%29.pdf)
11. [Jean de Baroncelli, "Les Cousins," Le Monde, 19 March 1959](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1959/03/19/les-cousins_2149818_1819218.html)
12. [Rémi Lecompte, thesis, Université de Tours, 2014](https://www.applis.univ-tours.fr/theses/2014/remi.lecompte_4576.pdf)
13. [Les cousins (1959), The Criterion Collection](https://www.criterion.com/films/27816-les-cousins)
14. ["Redécouvrir le cinéma de Claude Chabrol," Le Monde, 10 July 2025](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/07/10/redecouvrir-le-cinema-de-claude-chabrol-observateur-de-la-mediocrite-humaine_6620464_3246.html)
15. [BnF catalogue notice, Les cousins (film ; 1959), Criterion DVD 2011](https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark%3A/12148/cb43804851b)
16. [The Cousins (1959), JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/les-cousins)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1950s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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