Line #21 Film/LesCousins


1	[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/les_cousins.jpg]]
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3	''Les Cousins'' (''The Cousins'') is a 1959 French film directed by Creator/ClaudeChabrol, starring Gérard Blain, Jean-Claude Brialy, Juliette Mayniel, and Creator/StephaneAudran.
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5	Charles (Blain) moves into his cousin's flat in Paris. His cousin, Paul (Brialy), is an eccentric and decadent dandy. Charles and Paul are both law students. Thanks to Paul, Charles meets Florence (Mayniel) and he falls in love with her.
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8	!!''Les Cousins'' provides examples of:
9	* AlcoholInducedIdiocy: When he is drunk, Count Minerva shoots at a girl with a gun. Fortunately, it was not loaded.
10	* AllWorkVsAllPlay: Charles is studying all day, whereas Paul thinks only of partying. [[spoiler:Paul passes his exam, whereas Charles fails it.]]
11	* BungledSuicide: Françoise's ex-boyfriend jumps out of the window because Françoise rejects him and flirts with other men. He breaks his legs, but he survives.
12	* TheCasanova: Paul has many girlfriends. When Florence is falling in love with Charles, he seduces her and she becomes his girlfriend.
13	* ChekhovsGun: A literal one. Paul's gun is showed early in the film. After Count Minerva brandishes it during the party, Paul tells Charles that he also has bullets in a drawer. In the end, [[spoiler:Charles plays the Russian roulette and shoots at a sleeping Paul, but the chamber is empty. Then, Paul jokingly shoots at Charles and accidentally kills him.]]
14	* ClashingCousins: Paul becomes Charles's romantic rival. Charles is also jealous of him because [[spoiler:he passes his exam, whereas Charles failed it. Charles could kill him when he pays Russian roulette.]]
15	* CountryCousin: Paul lives in Paris. Charles, his cousin, comes from the country and he moves into his flat.
16	* CountryMouse: Charles comes from the country and he has to adjust to the decandent Parisian life.
17	* TheDandy: Paul is always well dressed. He sometimes wears eccentric clothes, like in the scene where he welcomes Charles in his flat. He is a hedonist.
18	* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler:Charles in the end, after being shot down by Paul.]]
19	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Paul accidentally kills Charles.]]
20	* EiffelTowerEffect: In the beginning, Paul drives Charles through the streets of Paris and many monuments are showed (the Luxor Obelisk, the Panthéon...).
21	* {{Foreshadowing}}: The story of Françoise's ex-boyfriend who is DrivenToSuicide because Françoise rejects him and flirts with other men foreshadows Charles's fate.
22	* TheGentlemanOrTheScoundrel: Florence has to chose between Charles, a NiceGuy who truly loves her, and Paul, a womanizer who thinks only of partying.
23	* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: When Paul's ex-girlfriend tells him that she is pregnant, Paul advises her to have an abortion and he gives her money for it. This establishes Paul as a jerkass. The fact that the ex-girlfriend finally has an abortion shows that she is a slut.
24	* GratuitousGerman: Charles often speaks in German, just for fun.
25	* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: In the end, [[spoiler:Paul, who assumes that his gun is empty, jokingly shoots at Charles and accidentally kills him.]]
26	* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: In the final scene, [[spoiler:where Paul shoots down Charles]], the background music (by Music/RichardWagner) is finally revealed to be the music of a disc played by Paul's turntable.
27	* LoveAtFirstSight: Charles falls for Florence as soon as he sees her for the first time.
28	* MommasBoy: Charles says that his mother pampered him. He cares for her and writes many letters to her. When [[spoiler:he fails his exam]], he is worried because he will disappoint his mother.
29	* ReallyGetsAround: Paul's female friends. Françoise and Florence in particular. When Florence confesses that she tries to love Charles, Clovis tells her that she had sex with most people in the neighbourhood. She does not object.
30	* RedOniBlueOni: The hard-working and collected Charles and his cousin Paul, a flamboyant dandy who only obeys his own passions.
31	* RussianRoulette: Charles places one bullet in Paul's gun, he spins the cylinder and he shoots at [[spoiler:Paul's head. There is just a click.]]
32	* SexyManInstantHarem: Paul is often surrounded with many girls, for example in the scene where he goes out of the university after passing his exam.
33	* ShoutOut: The bookseller mentions that the students only read detective novels. He thinks they should rather read Creator/FyodorDostoevsky. Charles wants to buy a book by Creator/HonoreDeBalzac. The bookseller gives him ''Lost Illusions''.
34	* WildTeenParty: The parties organized by Paul in his father's flat get out of hand. Lots of alcohol is consumed. At some point, a drunken guy shoots at a girl with a gun. Fortunately, it was not loaded.

Context Film / LesCousins