CriterionForum.org :: Info for Orpheus

This 1950 update of the Orphic myth by Jean Cocteau 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 represents the legendary Cocteau at the height of his abilities for peerless visual poetry and dreamlike storytelling.

Supplements

Audio commentary by French film scholar James Williams
Jean Cocteau: Autobiography of an Unknown, a 1984 feature-length documentary
Video piece from 2008 featuring assistant director Claude Pinoteau on the special effects in the film
40 Minutes with Jean Cocteau, an interview with the director from 1957
In Search of Jazz, a 1956 interview with Cocteau on the use of jazz in the film
La villa Santo-Sospir, a 16 mm color Cocteau film from 1951
Gallery of images by French film portrait photographer Roger Corbeau
Raw newsreel footage
Theatrical trailer

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