Young Michel is in love with Madeleine, so he decides to tell his parents of his intention to marry her. He thinks his announcement is innocent enough, but it threatens to reveal dark family secrets. Yvonne, Michel’s overbearing mother, concocts an elaborate scheme to drive Madeleine away.

Adapted from his infamous, once-banned 1938 play, Jean Cocteau’s unsung masterwork fuses farce, social satire, and tragedy to paint a perverse picture of familial dysfunction. Reprising his stage role, muse Jean Marais cuts an indelible figure as a young man wilting under maternal possessiveness.