Orpheus: Through a Glass, Amorously
By August 30, 2011
“It is much less a film than it is myself,” Jean Cocteau wrote to a friend at the time he was making Orpheus (1950), “a kind of projection of the things that are important to me.” As Read more »
- France
- 1950
- 95 minutes
- Black and White
- 1.33:1
- French
- Spine #68
SYNOPSIS: Jean Cocteau’s update of the Orpheus myth depicts a famous poet (Jean Marais), scorned by the Left Bank youth, and his love for both his wife, Eurydice (Marie Déa), and a mysterious princess (Maria Casarès). Seeking inspiration, the poet follows the princess from the world of the living to the land of the dead, through Cocteau’s famous mirrored portal. Orpheus’s peerless visual poetry and dreamlike storytelling represent the legendary Cocteau at the height of his powers.
Cast & CreditsOpen
Cast
| Orpheus | Jean Marais |
| Heurtebise | François Périer |
| The princess | María Casares |
| Eurydice | Marie Déa |
| The man | Henri Crémieux |
| Aglaonice | Juliette Gréco |
| Writer | Roger Blin |
| Cégeste | Edouard Dermithe |
| The inspector | Pierre Bertin |
| First judge | Jacques Varennes |
| Hotel manager | Jean-Pierre Melville |
Credits
| Director | Jean Cocteau |
| Written and directed by | Jean Cocteau |
| Producer | André Paulvé |
| Production manager | Émile Darbon |
| Editing | Jacqueline Sadoul |
| Sound | Calvet |
| Makeup | A. Marcus |
| Costumes | Marcel Escoffier |
| Sets | Jean d'Eaubonne |
| Cinematography | Nicolas Hayer |
| Music | Georges Auric |
Disc Features
- New digital restoration (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
- Audio commentary featuring French-film scholar James S. Williams
- Jean Cocteau: Autobiography of an Unknown (1984), a feature-length documentary
- Jean Cocteau and His Tricks (2008), a video interview with assistant director Claude Pinoteau
- 40 Minutes with Jean Cocteau (1957), an interview with the director
- In Search of Jazz (1956), an interview with Cocteau on the use of jazz in the film
- La villa Santo-Sospir (1951), a 16 mm color film by Cocteau
- Gallery of images by French-film portrait photographer Roger Corbeau
- Raw newsreel footage from 1950 of the Saint-Cyr military academy ruins, a location used in the film
- Theatrical trailer
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by author Mark Polizzotti, an excerpted article by Cocteau on the film, and an essay on La villa Santo-Sospir by Williams
From the CurrentView the Current »
Film Essays
Orpheus
By April 24, 2000
When I make a film, it is a sleep in which I am dreaming. Only the people and places of the dream matter. I have difficulty making contact with others, as one does when half-asleep. If a person is asleep and someone Read more »
