Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Excellent but underrated film

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Chabrol's second film, made months after his first Le Beau Serge, and a more mature film director is evident. Helped, no doubt by those he gathered around him notably on script and camera, while the first film had charm and passion, this has that and more. Not only is this an interesting and intriguing tale of student life and affairs late 50s, the way it is shot opens up a whole new world of cinema. At least for the next five years this new Wave would dominate French cinema and also influence most of the world's cinema. With a fluid camera movement, jump cuts and an emphasis on 'real' people, having fun, being serious about politics, smoking all the time and having sex, cinema would, as they say never be the same again. Les Cousins is all of the above and entertains and amuses. Chabrol has complete control of the music this time, which works very well - even if it includes youngsters dancing around to Wagner! Important and enjoyable - can't say fair than that.

Charles is a young provincial coming up to Paris to study law. He shares his cousin Paul's flat. Paul is a kind of decadent boy, a disillusioned pleasure-seeker, always dragging along with other idles, while Charles is a plodding, naive and honest man. He fell in love with Florence, one of Paul's acquaintances. But how will Paul react to that attempt to build a real love relationship? Of the so-called French New Wave directors, Claude Chabrol has been called possibly the most mainstream (though less celebrated than Truffaut or Godard). We could also say he has a remarkable amount of stamina. "Les Cousins" was at the beginning of his career, and for decades he kept making great movies, including the notable "Madame Bovary" in 1991... and still kept going.I love this film's blend of decadence and death. A simple man, with studies on his mind, is exposed to some bizarre scenes of sensuality, violence, crime, and even Nazi elements (in 1950s France?). This is what it is like if you take two opposing elements and allow them to spin out of control.

New wave old wave this a movie film fans love to analyze. For a simple un-corrupted by preconceptions view I offer the following:Plot: Naive but wealthy country bumpkin Charles arrives in Paris to study law....lives with his cousin Paul who shows him the latest new fast lane life of Paris (1959) = Beatnik goofy eccentric endless partying with women who really just want amusement and sex not overly serious relations. Charles falls for one such girl...Paul takes her away as a sort of lesson to Charles about her true nature. Charles flunks his law exam and then in despair and suppressed jealousy tries to kill Paul in his sleep by putting one bullet in a revolver a la Russian Roulette....Paul sleeps on after the click of the firing pin and after waking playfully points the gun at Charles and kills him with that one bullet (which he of course knows nothing about).The film is talky and somewhat boring. I was not on the edge of my seat when Charles turns to reverse Russian Roulette and felt it anticlimactic when Paul accidentally kills him at the end.There is symbolism everywhere every detail in every set thought out. This is not bad---for example: one pretty obvious one has Charles paging through the Code Penal while the girl he is in love with flicks on and off a light--you know a foreboding of his Russian Roulette.I like the time travel in these movies....for that you need lots of street scenes to see the cars (the most enjoyable part of this movie for me--far too little of it though)...The bohemian apartment life just made Paul look like an idiot...if they were meant to underline the wild loose eccentric life they do the opposite--appear trite and forced.I remember reading somewhere that Charbol loved American cars---there is an odd on in this movie a Nash. He also reportedly watched 3 American movies a day--I auppoaw during his formative years.It took me 2 settings to view this film...Unless you grew up in France of the late 50s and early 60s speak French (myself)...or like to micro analyze sets and dialog...don't really recommend.

Why is this moving and provoking movie never seen? It never seems to get any notice or mention when discussing or reviewing New Wave films. Better than the "400 Blows" and most of the rest of the genre. Could the score have something to do with this. Does Wagner have such an effect on viewers?