Author Spotlight

Jean Cocteau

4 Results
Once Upon a Time—French Poet Explains His Filming of Fairy Tale

The poet Paul Eluard says that to understand my film version of Beauty and the Beast, you must love your dog more than your car. Ordinarily, I would settle for that. However, with so much being written about the film that is entirely false to my inte

By Jean Cocteau

Testament of Orpheus
PREFACE Aman who dozes, his mouth half open, in front of a wood fire, lets slip some secrets from that night of the human body that is called the soul, over which he is no longer master. The sentry of his mouth has fallen into a deep and imprudent sl…

By Jean Cocteau

The Blood of a Poet
“Most of Aesop’s fables have many different levels and meanings. There are those who make myths of them by choosing some feature that fits in well with the fable. But for most of the fables this is only the first and most superficial aspect. Ther…

By Jean Cocteau

Orpheus
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 else comes into the sleeper’s ro…

By Jean Cocteau