"What does marble think when it's being sculpted? It thinks, 'I am struck, insulted, ruined, lost.' Life is sculpting me. Let it finish its work."
A re-imagining of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice that I found highly creative and simply brilliant. The clever use of mirrors and filming in reverse produced special effects that are wonderful both in their simplicity and how elegantly Cocteau devised them. The story is shifted considerably from the original to reflect the conflict between an all-consuming passion for one's art (or I suppose more generally a career) and having a happy personal life, though it has layers and is certainly subject to interpretation.
María Casares is great as the Princess who is somewhere in the hierarchy of agents of Death in the underworld, a supernatural middle manager if you will who says "Perhaps you expected to see me with a scythe and a shroud?" Jean Marais is soulful as Orpheus, a poet who has achieved a certain amount of fame, but also backlash with the younger, hip poets in the café all hating him. Perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, that eventually his fame will not only pass but his reputation will suffer in the generations to come, he's compelled to tap into a mysterious source for fresh inspiration (strange radio broadcasts replacing a traditional muse) and to seek immortality as an artist. He also turns away from his wife and toward the Princess romantically, perhaps symbolizing how such drastic decisions in life or a work/life balanced tilted towards work are a form of faithlessness to one's partner.
All of this is made more interesting by the Princess and her minion/chauffeur Heurtebise (François Périer) each having human feelings themselves, the Princess for Orpheus, and Heurtebise for Eurydice, and the fact that this imagining of the underworld is both cool and ambiguous in how it all works. I'm not sure if I loved the ending since it seems to imply Orpheus can have it both ways, but it had a touching sweetness to it. Regardless, less successful was the character/subplot of Eurydice's friend, played by Juliette Gréco; despite her considerable screen presence, she isn't given enough to do. Overall though, quite a film! And very enjoyable.
One other great quote: "Mirrors are the doors through which Death comes and goes. Look at yourself in a mirror all your life and you'll see Death at work, like bees in a hive of glass."
A re-imagining of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice that I found highly creative and simply brilliant. The clever use of mirrors and filming in reverse produced special effects that are wonderful both in their simplicity and how elegantly Cocteau devised them. The story is shifted considerably from the original to reflect the conflict between an all-consuming passion for one's art (or I suppose more generally a career) and having a happy personal life, though it has layers and is certainly subject to interpretation.
María Casares is great as the Princess who is somewhere in the hierarchy of agents of Death in the underworld, a supernatural middle manager if you will who says "Perhaps you expected to see me with a scythe and a shroud?" Jean Marais is soulful as Orpheus, a poet who has achieved a certain amount of fame, but also backlash with the younger, hip poets in the café all hating him. Perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, that eventually his fame will not only pass but his reputation will suffer in the generations to come, he's compelled to tap into a mysterious source for fresh inspiration (strange radio broadcasts replacing a traditional muse) and to seek immortality as an artist. He also turns away from his wife and toward the Princess romantically, perhaps symbolizing how such drastic decisions in life or a work/life balanced tilted towards work are a form of faithlessness to one's partner.
All of this is made more interesting by the Princess and her minion/chauffeur Heurtebise (François Périer) each having human feelings themselves, the Princess for Orpheus, and Heurtebise for Eurydice, and the fact that this imagining of the underworld is both cool and ambiguous in how it all works. I'm not sure if I loved the ending since it seems to imply Orpheus can have it both ways, but it had a touching sweetness to it. Regardless, less successful was the character/subplot of Eurydice's friend, played by Juliette Gréco; despite her considerable screen presence, she isn't given enough to do. Overall though, quite a film! And very enjoyable.
One other great quote: "Mirrors are the doors through which Death comes and goes. Look at yourself in a mirror all your life and you'll see Death at work, like bees in a hive of glass."