Film Club: Orpheus

Director: Jean Cocteau.  Rated: NR Runtime: 95 minutes. Black & white, in French with English subtitles. Cast: Jean Marais, François Périer, María Casares

Cocteau’s update of the Orpheus myth depicts a famous poet (Marais), scorned by the Left Bank youth, and his love for both his wife, Eurydice (Déa), and a mysterious princess (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’s peerless visual poetry and dreamlike storytelling represent the legendary Cocteau at the height of his powers. –criterion.com