From director Jean Cocteau (La Belle Et La Bête), I had no idea what this film from the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die would involve, I may have read a little about it before watching, but I just decided to watch it and make my judgements afterwards. Basically, set in modern day Paris, it is the contemporary story of the Greek god Orpheus, in this case a famous poet named Orphée, or Orpheus (Jean Marais), and it starts with the death of rival poet Jacques Cégeste (Edouard Dermithe) during a brawl with Death itself, i.e. the Princess (María Casares), and he is taken as witness with the body in her car. They go to a château and he listens to some seemingly meaningless but in fact interesting messages on the radio, and Orphée becomes obsessed with the Princess, despite the fact that he is already married to Eurydice (Marie Déa), who is killed by the Princess's henchmen. He finds this out and goes to search for her in the Underworld, but he cannot look at her otherwise she will die, and in the end this may all have been a dream and Eurydice may actually be alive and pregnant. Also starring Henri Crémieux as The Editor, Juliette Gréco as Aglaonice, Roger Blin as The Writer and Pierre Bertin as The Inspector. I will be honest, it was a bit complicated that I can't really confirm all the facts about the story, but I did like the twist taking an ancient story and bringing it into the modern world, and there were some clever sequences and images, such as the mirror that is a portal to the other world, it's a worthwhile fantasy. It was nominated the BAFTA for Best Film from any Source. Very good!
Review of Orpheus
