"Orphée" or "Orpheus" in the international version is a French French-language live action film from 1950 (and not the one from Brazil from almost a decade later that won the Oscar), so this one was made five years after the end of World War II to put things into perspective and show you how old it is and this also means that the film will have its 75th anniversary soon or perhaps it even happened already depending on when you read this review of mine. What we have here is of course a black-and-white film and the subject should also be clear with the title already as even I as somebody who is not that much into mythology knows the very basics of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Admittedly, the smaller (but still relatively big) characters like Heurtebise I was not instantly familiar with if they also are part of the original story. But let's stay with the basics first: This film runs for slightly over 1.5 hours, 95 minutes even, but still this does not make it a very long film at all. The director is Jean Cocteau and I think quite a few consider him among France's finest filmmakers ever or at least from the 20th century. This one here was neither among his earliest not final career efforts, but if you had to choose one, it is closer to the end of his career than to the beginning and he was around the age of 60 when he shot this film. Directing was definitely not his main profession though if you see how he had written approximately ten times as many screenplays as the number of movies he directed, so no huge surprise here at all that he was also in charge of the screenplay here.
The movie did not win any awards according to imdb, but the two honors it achieved were fairly special nonetheless because the first was a BAFTA nomination in the biggest category of the night in 1951 where this film and another French film went up against a sextet of American films and eventually succumbed to it. The second honor was this film being nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1950 already. This is it. Now let's look at the specific film and the plot and contents here. I do not want to go very much into detail about the actors here, but I guess most people with an interest in old French films have come across Jean Gabin on other occasions. Also one of his most-remembered films. This can probably be said about every cast member here. María Casares I must also emphasize as she was not only stunning, but quite memorable as the princess of darkness here and I would have picked her anytime over Marie Déa's Eurydice. Maybe just me, but I have come across Casares in other films too and liked her. Juliette Gréco is nice too, even if she does not have a whole lot of screen time. As for the rest of the cast, I shall leave the elaborations to the old French film buffs or if those are nowhere near to be found, I suggest you take a look at the actors' bodies of work yourself. I liked the introduction to this movie here where we have a narrator give a brief summary on the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice to the audience that it almost felt a bit like a brief school lesson. Of course, some will complain that this was spoiler territory, but I don't really think so because Cocteau really used all his creative freedom throughout the movie and the ending was nothing like the old story if I understood it correctly.
The one thing that really caught my attention here was how it almost turned into a comedy for quite a mentionable while around the beginning of the last half hour or so. This was mostly connected to the idea of how he was not allowed to see her or he would die. It felt almost like slapstick then with some of the stuff they included there, like when she was hiding under a bed or table or so and how the maybe biggest supporting character said it is no problem if Orpheus sees Eurydice on a photo. It is not the same as seeing her actual existence. Still, catastrophe is inevitable and it happens because of a rear mirror in a car. This is then when the comedy does stop again for the most part. Honestly, there I expected this as some kind of happy ending in a playful way almost where Orpheus could have been free for the other woman he really wanted and he had to die to get to her while maybe Heurtebise could have started dating Eurydice who then would have been free too. I mean she still always liked Orpheus I think, but it was not entirely clear. He was definitely not the center of her world you could say, but she kept liking him I believe. The ending took a very different route though. The woman from the underworld (if you wanna call it/her that) made a fateful decision that banned Orpheus and Eurydice out of her own life and Heurtebise's as well and I think the former two forgot that the latter two even existed and they faced serious consequences for this then irrevocable decision. We understand that Death down there is just basically somebody who performs certain challenges, but (s)he is not an almighty force.
Instead, there is some kind of judicial committee that consist of a group of judges and decides over these matters and you also understand that if these judges do not rule in your favor, then you will have to endure a punishment that is apparently much more serious than death. We do not find out the specific details what happens to the character who is called "The Princess" and is basically death personified, even if there may be other forms of death come to life down there and we also do not find out what happens to Heurtebise. We only see them being taken away and the one character that stays behind is the young man who died in this accident with the two motorcycles. This felt pretty bizarre though. We do not any collision, just see him fall to the ground and it was a bit difficult to believe this accident was lethal. But in the car the boy is suddenly dead and not much later he becomes an aide to the Princess' character even. That was maybe too quick of a rise in hierarchy, wasn't it? Anyway, he was mostly in it for occasional comic relief with what he hoped he could be/have as a consequence. He was not sad that his life was over, but oh well, he existed anyway then, so I guess this may be the reason. And was he the next Death then after Casares' character is led away? We do not find out. But it was kinda bizarre in a slightly funny way even how the young man is carried into the car and Casares' character in there tells the title character to get in as well. I mean we could understand immediately that she picked him because of his looks and that she was maybe attracted to him.
The idea though of Death being an attractive woman who developed feelings for a mortal is debatable. I think many could have a problem with this, just like how they could have a problem with what happens in the end and maybe they would have preferred different closure. Is this a happy ending then? I would say no, especially with what happens to two characters and you could say that Heurtebise, most of all, did not deserve any of this, but also with the two humans being united again then, it is some kind of interesting question if this is a happy ending for them? I mean Eurydice wanted Orpheus, but is he really still the right one for her? We know he wanted somebody else more, but she does not know and neither does he. We do know that she is not the one and only perfect love for him. The closest we had to this was the romance between Orpheus and Death in this film, one that is eventually not in existence anymore because one character does not remember and the other is doomed. So yeah, the outcome here is very different compared to the original tale and everybody will have different thoughts on it. It offers some room for discussion which is never a bad thing. Many will probably not like it too much and I include myself there, but I am clearly biased here with how much I adore Casares and she was perfect for this kind of femme fatale character, even with her intentions being honorable in the end. I wanna see her in more villain roles. May she rest in peace and also all the others who were working on this film. Here and there, it was a bit of a close call for me if I can give the overall outcome a thumbs-up, but I think that the good moments still outweigh the forgettable, so it is a positive recommendation for me, even if maybe seeing it on the small screen is enough and it does not have to be a big movie theater screen like it was for me last night. I am still glad I went. It's a solid movie.
The movie did not win any awards according to imdb, but the two honors it achieved were fairly special nonetheless because the first was a BAFTA nomination in the biggest category of the night in 1951 where this film and another French film went up against a sextet of American films and eventually succumbed to it. The second honor was this film being nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1950 already. This is it. Now let's look at the specific film and the plot and contents here. I do not want to go very much into detail about the actors here, but I guess most people with an interest in old French films have come across Jean Gabin on other occasions. Also one of his most-remembered films. This can probably be said about every cast member here. María Casares I must also emphasize as she was not only stunning, but quite memorable as the princess of darkness here and I would have picked her anytime over Marie Déa's Eurydice. Maybe just me, but I have come across Casares in other films too and liked her. Juliette Gréco is nice too, even if she does not have a whole lot of screen time. As for the rest of the cast, I shall leave the elaborations to the old French film buffs or if those are nowhere near to be found, I suggest you take a look at the actors' bodies of work yourself. I liked the introduction to this movie here where we have a narrator give a brief summary on the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice to the audience that it almost felt a bit like a brief school lesson. Of course, some will complain that this was spoiler territory, but I don't really think so because Cocteau really used all his creative freedom throughout the movie and the ending was nothing like the old story if I understood it correctly.
The one thing that really caught my attention here was how it almost turned into a comedy for quite a mentionable while around the beginning of the last half hour or so. This was mostly connected to the idea of how he was not allowed to see her or he would die. It felt almost like slapstick then with some of the stuff they included there, like when she was hiding under a bed or table or so and how the maybe biggest supporting character said it is no problem if Orpheus sees Eurydice on a photo. It is not the same as seeing her actual existence. Still, catastrophe is inevitable and it happens because of a rear mirror in a car. This is then when the comedy does stop again for the most part. Honestly, there I expected this as some kind of happy ending in a playful way almost where Orpheus could have been free for the other woman he really wanted and he had to die to get to her while maybe Heurtebise could have started dating Eurydice who then would have been free too. I mean she still always liked Orpheus I think, but it was not entirely clear. He was definitely not the center of her world you could say, but she kept liking him I believe. The ending took a very different route though. The woman from the underworld (if you wanna call it/her that) made a fateful decision that banned Orpheus and Eurydice out of her own life and Heurtebise's as well and I think the former two forgot that the latter two even existed and they faced serious consequences for this then irrevocable decision. We understand that Death down there is just basically somebody who performs certain challenges, but (s)he is not an almighty force.
Instead, there is some kind of judicial committee that consist of a group of judges and decides over these matters and you also understand that if these judges do not rule in your favor, then you will have to endure a punishment that is apparently much more serious than death. We do not find out the specific details what happens to the character who is called "The Princess" and is basically death personified, even if there may be other forms of death come to life down there and we also do not find out what happens to Heurtebise. We only see them being taken away and the one character that stays behind is the young man who died in this accident with the two motorcycles. This felt pretty bizarre though. We do not any collision, just see him fall to the ground and it was a bit difficult to believe this accident was lethal. But in the car the boy is suddenly dead and not much later he becomes an aide to the Princess' character even. That was maybe too quick of a rise in hierarchy, wasn't it? Anyway, he was mostly in it for occasional comic relief with what he hoped he could be/have as a consequence. He was not sad that his life was over, but oh well, he existed anyway then, so I guess this may be the reason. And was he the next Death then after Casares' character is led away? We do not find out. But it was kinda bizarre in a slightly funny way even how the young man is carried into the car and Casares' character in there tells the title character to get in as well. I mean we could understand immediately that she picked him because of his looks and that she was maybe attracted to him.
The idea though of Death being an attractive woman who developed feelings for a mortal is debatable. I think many could have a problem with this, just like how they could have a problem with what happens in the end and maybe they would have preferred different closure. Is this a happy ending then? I would say no, especially with what happens to two characters and you could say that Heurtebise, most of all, did not deserve any of this, but also with the two humans being united again then, it is some kind of interesting question if this is a happy ending for them? I mean Eurydice wanted Orpheus, but is he really still the right one for her? We know he wanted somebody else more, but she does not know and neither does he. We do know that she is not the one and only perfect love for him. The closest we had to this was the romance between Orpheus and Death in this film, one that is eventually not in existence anymore because one character does not remember and the other is doomed. So yeah, the outcome here is very different compared to the original tale and everybody will have different thoughts on it. It offers some room for discussion which is never a bad thing. Many will probably not like it too much and I include myself there, but I am clearly biased here with how much I adore Casares and she was perfect for this kind of femme fatale character, even with her intentions being honorable in the end. I wanna see her in more villain roles. May she rest in peace and also all the others who were working on this film. Here and there, it was a bit of a close call for me if I can give the overall outcome a thumbs-up, but I think that the good moments still outweigh the forgettable, so it is a positive recommendation for me, even if maybe seeing it on the small screen is enough and it does not have to be a big movie theater screen like it was for me last night. I am still glad I went. It's a solid movie.