The Eagle with Two Heads (L'Aigle à deux têtes)

The Eagle with Two Heads (L'Aigle à deux têtes, German Der Doppeladler) is a 1948 black-and-white French romantic drama by Jean Cocteau. He adapted it from his own play, first staged in Paris in October 1946, and wrote the script himself. The film runs 93 minutes and brings its two stage leads to the screen: Edwige Feuillère and Jean Marais.

The story covers three days of impossible love for a queen who stayed young and beautiful but withdrew from the world after her husband's death. Set largely in a castle, it brings her together with a vigorous young anarchist. He is the exact double of the dead king and came to assassinate her, but, hunted and wounded, he is forced to take refuge in the same castle. Cocteau described the meeting as the tragic encounter of a queen with the spirit of an anarchist and an anarchist with the spirit of a king.

The cast also includes Jean Debucourt, Silvia Monfort, Jacques Varennes, Ahmed Abdallah, André Darnay and Capucine.