I have to give this one a generous rating for style alone. Jean Cocteau makes striking use of imagery to tell the tale based on the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice and the Princess of Death.
It does take awhile to get used to the jumbled style of story-telling that starts when the youth Cygeste is killed by a chauffeur driven limousine and the poet Orpheus (JEAN MARAIS) is summoned by the Princess to aid her in transporting his body. From there on the story holds your interest with its strange view of an underworld where the dead spring to life at her command and walk through mirrors to the world on the other side.
The trick camera effects are subtle and unique, always in keeping with the tone of the story and used sparingly but well.
JEAN MARAIS here gives a much more compelling, fully detailed performance than he gave as "The Beast" in Cocteau's other famous tale, and all of the other principals match him every step of the way. Especially interesting is the chauffeur played by FRANCOIS PERIER, strikingly persuasive as the conflicted man who falls in love with Orpheus' wife.
A very unique film that takes time getting used to as the strange events unfold at a slow pace, but it's well worth the payoff if you follow it to its satisfying conclusion.
I can see where this is meat for intellectuals who will undoubtedly find it thoroughly stimulating while the average movie-goer will probably be baffled and confused by the whole thing. Even so, the average movie-goer will find it hard to look away once letting himself fall under the story's magic spell.
It does take awhile to get used to the jumbled style of story-telling that starts when the youth Cygeste is killed by a chauffeur driven limousine and the poet Orpheus (JEAN MARAIS) is summoned by the Princess to aid her in transporting his body. From there on the story holds your interest with its strange view of an underworld where the dead spring to life at her command and walk through mirrors to the world on the other side.
The trick camera effects are subtle and unique, always in keeping with the tone of the story and used sparingly but well.
JEAN MARAIS here gives a much more compelling, fully detailed performance than he gave as "The Beast" in Cocteau's other famous tale, and all of the other principals match him every step of the way. Especially interesting is the chauffeur played by FRANCOIS PERIER, strikingly persuasive as the conflicted man who falls in love with Orpheus' wife.
A very unique film that takes time getting used to as the strange events unfold at a slow pace, but it's well worth the payoff if you follow it to its satisfying conclusion.
I can see where this is meat for intellectuals who will undoubtedly find it thoroughly stimulating while the average movie-goer will probably be baffled and confused by the whole thing. Even so, the average movie-goer will find it hard to look away once letting himself fall under the story's magic spell.