Les enfants du placard

Jacquot’s second film is a somber yet psychologically intricate film about a brother and sister who cross paths in the Jardins du Luxembourg after many years. Nicola (Lou Castel) lives a precarious existence, moving from hotel to hotel, while Juliette (Brigitte Fossey) has settled on a compromised but luxurious lifestyle, by marrying her father’s shady business partner. When they meet for lunch, Juliette kisses a homemade tattoo on Nicola’s arm, the sign of their devotion to one another as well as the profound guilt they share. At the time, Jacquot wrote that Les enfants du placard was the story of an impossible love. ‘This amorous impasse takes shape in the most complex bond there is, that between brother and sister. It is a theme that has been explored quite often in literature, by Musil, by Thomas Mann – of whom I had to think when I made the film – and of course for Cocteau. I make films people can believe in. I even believe in them myself and try to make them in such a way that the film is inculcated with my own faith, so that all who watch the film will allow themselves to be captivated by the story.’ With Jean Sorel in the role of Berlu and the beautiful Isabelle Weingarten as Juliette’s friend Laure. (KJ)