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Testament of Orpheus

Original title: Le testament d'Orphée ou ne me demandez pas pourquoi
  • 1960
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 19m
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
3.6K
YOUR RATING
Testament of Orpheus (1960)
BiographyFantasy

The Poet looks back over his life and work, recalling his inspirations and obsessions.The Poet looks back over his life and work, recalling his inspirations and obsessions.The Poet looks back over his life and work, recalling his inspirations and obsessions.

  • Director
    • Jean Cocteau
  • Writer
    • Jean Cocteau
  • Stars
    • Jean Cocteau
    • Françoise Arnoul
    • Claudine Auger
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.2/10
    3.6K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Jean Cocteau
    • Writer
      • Jean Cocteau
    • Stars
      • Jean Cocteau
      • Françoise Arnoul
      • Claudine Auger
    • 27User reviews
    • 21Critic reviews
    • 75Metascore
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
      • 1 nomination total

    Photos7

    Testament of Orpheus (1960)
    Testament of Orpheus (1960)
    Testament of Orpheus (1960)
    Claudine Auger and François Périer in Testament of Orpheus (1960)
    Testament of Orpheus (1960)
    The Blood of a Poet (1932)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Jean Cocteau
    Jean Cocteau
    • Self - the Poet
    Françoise Arnoul
    Françoise Arnoul
    • Elle-même
    • (uncredited)
    Claudine Auger
    Claudine Auger
    • Minerve
    • (uncredited)
    Charles Aznavour
    Charles Aznavour
    • Le Curieux
    • (uncredited)
    Lucia Bosè
    Lucia Bosè
    • Une amie d'Orphée
    • (uncredited)
    Yul Brynner
    Yul Brynner
    • L'huissier
    • (uncredited)
    María Casares
    María Casares
    • La princesse
    • (uncredited)
    Françoise Christophe
    Françoise Christophe
    • L'infirmière
    • (uncredited)
    Michèle Comte
    • La petite fille
    • (uncredited)
    Nicole Courcel
    Nicole Courcel
    • La mère maladroite
    • (uncredited)
    Henri Crémieux
    Henri Crémieux
    • Le professeur
    • (uncredited)
    Edouard Dermithe
    Edouard Dermithe
    • Cégeste
    • (uncredited)
    Luis Miguel Dominguín
    • Un ami d'Orphée
    • (uncredited)
    Guy Dute
    • Le premier homme chien
    • (uncredited)
    Michael Goodliffe
    Michael Goodliffe
    • English Narrator
    • (voice)
    • (uncredited)
    Daniel Gélin
    Daniel Gélin
    • L'interne
    • (uncredited)
    Alice Heyliger
    • Eurydice
    • (uncredited)
    Philippe Juzan
    • 1st Man-Horse
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Jean Cocteau
    • Writer
      • Jean Cocteau
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Cocteau's last film.
    • Quotes

      Cégeste: It's no use. An artist always paints his own portrait. You'll never paint that flower.

    • Connections
      Featured in Brows Held High: Beauty and the Beast: Part 1 (2014)
    • Soundtracks
      Orphée et Eurydice
      Composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck

      (1762)

    User reviews27

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    7/10
    The Last Laugh And Testament of Jean Cocteau
    Ever since I first saw Orphee decades ago I thought it one of world cinema's Greats, a work of Art and underplayed panache that literally transcends Time. That was Part 2 of Jean Cocteau's Orpheus cycle in 1949 – in 1932 Part 1 Le Sang D'un Poete set the scene in a whimsical primitive way, and Testament was the convoluted Part 3 which became his final film released in 1960. First thing – if you enjoyed Orphee I recommend not watching this immediately afterwards, it's a contrast between gold and brass. Second thing - if you don't like pretentious art films this is a special case, it's still by far the best pretentious film I've ever seen and worth watching for its self-confidence. If you do like pretentious art films then to come clean I'm one of the denser people so disparaged by the previous exalted commenter therefore I have nothing I can impart to you. I've always considered this only as Cocteau's Testament – it's all about him and his thoughts of posterity at 70.

    Cocteau as film maker and poet stands between two worlds accused of being guilty of Innocence and is condemned to Life while his last film makes itself around him. There's a lot more to it, involving going backwards forwards and sideways in Time and Timelessness with or without trick photography, all of the cast large or small spouting cod-heavy aphorisms with gossamer realism or relevance. It gave him a chance to revisit the subject, and as he admitted at the end of the film to give some of his old friends (Casares, Perier, Dermithe etc) a job in the revisiting – after all, he was by now to use his own words from Orphee now "rotten with success" and could get away with murder. He died twice in here – even the Motorcyclists Of Death only wanted his autograph - and he lived and died to tell the tale. I can see where Banksy got his inspiration for his recent Mobile Phone Lovers from. I take away the image of Cegeste's image being saved from backward burning only for the image to be torn to pieces, that cerebral scene was worth the eighty minutes! The twenty minute wordy trial scene gets tiresome as you gradually realise its pointlessness apart from the padding out of the temporal running time. But there's plenty of tremendous imagery and heavy moralising throughout; Cocteau was incredibly talented, big on surrealism the occult and symbolism of all kinds, all more or less intellectual dead ends and as with many other big thinkers full of mumbo jumbo before and since he agonised over the merits and demerits of the Catholic Church, another dead end. Whereas with Orphee he made a film that could be enjoyed over the generations by all kinds of people with various levels of brainpower he created here a film so obscure it only plays like an in-joke raspberry to the world of the end of his life.

    So there you are – I do quite like Le Testament D'Orphee so hopefully Cocteau won't be sad wherever he is, it's just I'm not a poet and have an old nose for Art and Artifice. No matter how unique or interesting this film is to me or even for that matter to those of a higher intellect, he was simply having a laugh.
    helpful•2
    0
    • Spondonman
    • Oct 5, 2014

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 18, 1960 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • France
    • Language
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Le testament d'Orphée
    • Filming locations
      • Les Baux de Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, France
    • Production companies
      • Cinédis
      • Les Editions Cinégraphiques
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Gross worldwide
      • $1,850
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 19 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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