Learn English – A phrase for ignoring the disparity at a low level, while seeking commonality at a high level

Edited to add this prequel — the most common use of the phrase does not include the French article. See the statistics from Google ngram, for example:

First, the New Oxford American Dictionary definition:

enfant terrible • noun (plural: enfants terribles)
a person whose unconventional or controversial behavior or ideas shock, embarrass, or annoy others.

From the Corpus of Contemporary American English, it has quite a few hits. These include works of fiction, magazines, and some academic writings; I don't believe it is restricted to the academic style. Examples include:

• This neglect comes from the " destructive cartoon " that greeted Ellis in the early years: his image as a frivolous enfant terrible whose clipped prose was fit only for the MTV generation
• His unflattering reputation is a hangover from the Young Tom Doak era when he was architecture's enfant terrible, better known for his Golf Magazine writings on the craft than for his practice of it.
• Krenek (1900-1991) was an enfant terrible among composers, but a series of artistic setbacks prompted him to reconsider his career. In 1925, he began work on…
• Eugeni Berzin, 25, the Russian enfant terrible who won the' 94 Giro and is scheduled to make his debut in the Tour
• It also reveals that, at 71, this seminal artist still is the enfant terrible he was when he began to rattle art's cages half a century ago.
• Make no mistake, the high points of this 96-year-old enfant terrible are remarkable.

To sum it up, I would say that most uses fall under two categories: (ⅰ) young professionals or artists who are seen as behaving unconventionally or in a shocking manner; (ⅱ) in an ironic fashion, for rather older people who behave in a way that is more expected of the young.

I found only one hit for the plural form which does not refer to Cocteau’s movie:

Yet he writes with a riotous, slangy precision reminiscent of a line of British enfants terribles, beginning with Evelyn Waugh in the 1920s-30s and continuing in such contemporary figures as Martin Amis and Will Self.

As Bill Franke has said, inheriting applies to the acquisition of traits. However, I think the idiom that best fits your translation of 'he has gone on his father' would actually be:

He takes after his father.

Or in the case of a nose or other distinguishing feature:

He has his father's nose.