Testament of Orpheus (1960)

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

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jean Cocteau	...	Himself - the Poet

Storyline

The poet Jean Cocteau is lost in space-time. He has been in the 18th century and is now turning up at different moments in professor Langevin's life. The professor has invented some bullets, which travel faster than light. With one of them he kills Cocteau, who is resurrected as his old self, but is still caught in the space between fantasy and reality. At a gypsy camp a woman saves a photo out of the fire and restores it. On the photo Cocteau recognizes Cégeste from his film Orphée. He tears the photo into pieces and throws it into the sea. Immediately Cégeste himself jumps out of the water. He brings Cocteau to a rogatory commission led by Heurtebise and The Princess from the film Orphée. Cocteau admits that he has constantly attempted to enter a world which is not his own, a world that is beyond the limits of man, and that disobedience is like a religion for him. The commission imposes on him the sentence of life. In a hall inside some stone ruins the goddess Athena kills Cocteau ...

---

Plot Keywords:

professor | poet | death | experimental film | breaking the fourth wall | 

---

Genres:

Biography

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

18 February 1960 (France)

Also Known As:

Le testament d'Orphée

Filming Locations:

Les Baux de Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinédis,Les Editions Cinégraphiques

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Having run out of funds, Cocteau was able to complete the film with the prize money that Francois Truffaut had just won for "Les Quatre Cents Coups" (1959).

---

Quotes

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

---

Connections

Follows Orpheus (1950)

---

Soundtracks

Orphée et Eurydice
Composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck
(1762)

User Reviews

This movie shows what a movie can be and should be.

Although the elements involved in the last part of the trilogy (of course it's a trilogy!) are same, the movie is brilliant in the way it deal and approaches with a poet's final years. I loved the self-reference to the earlier versions and to Jean cocteau himself. The film touches A film inside a film, a stage inside a stage, a life inside a life, a body inside a body and ofcourse a world inside a world. This is a "timeless" classic. No pun intended. This just my first viewing, I intend to see it again and again. One interesting thing (a speculation) is the BULLET from the future world. I wonder whether James cameroon got inspired from this idea to come up with "The Terminator".

Personally, I was always interested by the idea of NO TIME. This movie touches the possible cyclic nature of the time and sometime it even goes even further suggesting that -- ALL TIMES reside within ONE or NONE -- Well we're not supposed to understand it :) I loved the dig at intellectuals.

I would recommend this movie to all surrealist and anybody who has the eternal question -- WHY?! This movie is not an answer nor it asks question. Just OBEY the natural laws and see the movie :)

9/10