Claude Chabrol immediately followed up his debut, Le beau Serge, with this altogether more cynical and scathing depiction of city life in the late 1950s. Again he uses lead actors Gerard Blain and Jean-Claude Brialy, but has them switch roles, so Blain plays the naive mummy’s boy from the countryside who arrives in Paris to study. He movies in with his cousin, the arrogant, bourgois Brialy, and both again get involved with the same woman – this time played by Juliette Mayniel – setting them on a collision course with tragedy. The film was a huge commercial success for Chabrol, speaking to the younger generation in a way that was vibrant, refreshing and compelling. The New Wave had arrived, with Les Quatre Cent Coups and A Bout de Souffle following close behind.

You can read my feature on Le beau Serge and Les Cousins here