"C'est si merveilleux de s'être retrouvés l'un près de l'autre"

Autograph letter signed by Jean Cocteau, marked with his famous star, addressed to his great love, the actor Jean Marais. One page penned in black ink on a single sheet.
Traces of folds, horizontal creases inherent to mailing, two ink spots on the blank verso not affecting the text.
A magnificent love letter from Cocteau to Marais, who together formed one of the most iconic artistic couples of the 20th century. Set against the backdrop of turmoil and the German Occupation, their unbreakable bond is embodied in this letter of the writer, filled with desperate tones.

Published in Letters à Jean Marais, 1987, p. 159.

Written by a love-stricken Cocteau while Jean Marais, having been mobilised, joined the front in May 1940. Cocteau had taken refuge in Perpignan, where communication in those troubled times was difficult:

"Ce matin sont arrivées ensemble la dépêche et la lettre où tu donnais ton adresse à tout hasard. Je devenai [sic] fou! 
Mon bon ange, 
Quelle joie cette dépêche ce matin. J'avais prié la veille pour la 
recevoir et pas dormi de la nuit à force d'attendre. J'ai couru au bureau de poste pour t'envoyer les sous - mais - sois avare - c'est la ruine et je ne sais plus où se trouvent mon frère et la charge. J'ai reçu ce soir une lettre de la secrétaire. Je compte l'envoyer à Paris arranger le gros de l'appartement. Après nos réfugiés nous aurons un gîte et notre étoile nous fournira du travail. C'est si merveilleux de s'être retrouvés l'un près de l'autre que j'ai confiance et que j'agirai comme si le drame n'existait pas. Du reste... du reste... mais je te parlerai c'est préférable. Tâche de te faire démobiliser vite. Perpignan n'est pas Saint-Tropez mais c'est un tel miracle d'avoir une maison qui est la nôtre et la mer tout près. 
Je te bénis. 
Je te demande de faire attention aux sous parce que avec le peu que j'ai ici je voudrais t'habiller des pieds à la tête

["This morning, the telegram and the letter where you gave your address arrived together. I nearly lost my mind!

My dear angel,

What joy your telegram brought this morning. I had prayed the night before to receive it and hardly slept from the wait. I ran to the post office to send you money—but be thrifty—I am broke, and I no longer know where my brother and the charge are. This evening I received a letter from the secretary, which I plan to send to Paris to sort out the main part of the apartment. After our refugees, we’ll have a home, and our star will bring us work.  It’s so wonderful to have found each other again that I have confidence and will act as if the drama didn’t exist. But... but... I’ll tell you more in person, it’s better that way. Try to get demobilised quickly. Perpignan is not Saint-Tropez, but it is such a miracle to have a house that is ours and the sea close by I bless you.
I ask you to be careful with money because with the little I have here, I want to clothe you from head to toe.”.]

The Cocteau-Marais pair would soon return to Paris and endure the harshness of the German Occupation, which banned the revival of their scandalous 1939 hit play, Les Parents terribles.