L’Aigle à deux têtes (1948)

L’Aigle à deux têtes is a French romantic film drama first released in 1948, directed by Jean Cocteau.  The film stars Edwige Feuillère, Silvia Monfort, Jean Marais and Jean Debucourt.  It has also been released under the title: The Eagle Has Two Heads.  Our overall rating for this film is: very good.


Natasha, the queen of an unhappy kingdom, lives in seclusion in her castle, still mourning the death of her husband, the king, who died ten years ago.  One evening, a young man breaks into her quarters and falls at her feet.  Struck by his resemblance to her husband, Natasha conceals him from the police who are searching for him.  Realising that the young man, Stanislas, is an anarchist who had planned to assassinate her, the queen declares that he was sent by fate to kill her and so put an end to her years of grief.   However, their destiny appears to follow a different path when Stanislas and Natasha discover they are in love...

Political intrigue and 19th century romanticism form the basis for this haunting tale of love from one of France’s greatest creative talents, Jean Cocteau.  The film was adapted from a successful stage play of the same name which Cocteau staged in 1946 with the same cast.  The story was inspired by the mysterious death of King Louis II of Bavaria, who was found drowned after having strangled his doctor, and the death of Queen Elisabeth of Austria at the hands of an anarchist.

The parallels with Cocteau’s earlier film, La Belle et la bête, are superficial but nonetheless apparent.  In that film, a beautiful young woman finds herself in an isolated castle where she encounters a beast (played by Jean Marais).  By falling in love with the creature, she manages to revive his humanity and awake him from his years of reclusion.   In L’Aigle à deux têtes, the process is reversed: a potential killer (played by Marais) breaks into a castle where he falls in love with a withdrawn beautiful young woman, breaking the spell of mourning that has imprisoned her for ten years.

Although less surreal and visually striking than La Belle et la bête, this later film is just as captivating, with its use of poetic imagery and atmospheric sets.  The film’s strength lies partly in Cocteau’s remarkable use of language, but also in the memorable performances from Edwige Feuillère and Jean Marais, two of France’s finest actors who, in this film, form an iconic screen couple.

© James Travers 2000

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