Orpheus (1950)

Lack of good storyline.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The acting in this movie is really good.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Orphee is a poet who becomes obsessed with Death (the Princess). They fall in love. Orphee's wife, Eurydice, is killed by the Princess' henchmen and Orphee goes after her into the Underworld. Although they have become dangerously entangled, the Princess sends Orphee back out of the Underworld, to carry on his life with Eurydice.Roger Ebert wrote, "Seeing 'Orpheus' today is like glimpsing a cinematic realm that has passed completely from the scene. Films are rarely made for purely artistic reasons, experiments are discouraged, and stars as big as Marais are not cast in eccentric remakes of Greek myths. The story in Cocteau's hands becomes unexpectedly complex; we see that it is not simply about love, death and jealousy, but also about how art can seduce the artist away from ordinary human concerns".There is definitely a good way and a bad way to update mythology. Thebad way, well, we will not go there. But the good way is shown here and in films like "O Brother Where Art Thou". For much of this one, it could be any story if it was not made obvious by the character names. A French poet does not immediately scream "Orpheus".The myth-fantasy gets stronger as the film goes on, and this actually works. It could be silly to have fantastic elements show up part way through, but it actually just boosts the film from average to better than average.

There have been many many films with magical or fantastical themes made over the years but there are very few which truly ARE magical.This film works even though the director had a low budget and had to make the best of the primitive state of special effects of his day. One is tempted to wonder what might have been achieved with today's CGI although the effects here, such as they are, do have a dreamlike charm which modern technology might not have been able to achieve, in the same way that a simple song on an old acoustic guitar can be far more moving than a super production drenched in lush state-of-the-art effects.This film is fascinating for me (and I know it's not everybody's cup of tea) because it is so different from other films. It is weird but in a poetical way. Somebody wrote 'haunting' in their review and that word certainly fits very well here.Maria Casares as the Princess of Death is wonderful and the other actors are also good. I must admit I am not very fond of Jean Marais as Orphée, he is far too whiny for my liking, which brings my star-rating down I'm afraid from a nine to an eight...If you don't understand French then you can read the subtitles. I am always reading that 'Americans don't like to read subtitles' and that some films have even not been marketed in the US because of this, or have actually been dubbed into American. I have never been able to understand this. Is it because a lot of Americans don't learn to read properly in school?

1- A film should convey its meaning mostly not in words but moving pictures, otherwise some other form of expression must be used. If you take out the words from this film, you would be left with careless camera-work and settings (see 1931 film Nosferatu for a much careful camera work and settings- and a much better rising from the coffin scene-19 years earlier). Instead of making a film, Cocteau could publish a book of intellectual sentences decorated with still photography and we would not miss a thing."I am your death" may be an effective sentence by itself, but only in poems. If you use such sentences in a film, you must support it with visual elements in some way. 2- Many positive criticism centers on the symbolism hidden. Somebody symbolizes "poet", other one "death", we see how "poet" prefers art (that is listening to radio) to life, how "poet" is fascinated by "death".... But this is dry symbolism appealing only to the intellect but not meant to be felt. Trying to comprehend the feelings of a "poet" could be good, but instead, we are expected to appreciate his/her drama and "poetic cause". Do watchers feel any emotional contact with the "poet"? I don't think so. That is; film should appeal much much more to senses and emotions than the intellect. 3- Many other positive criticism, on the other hand, mentions innovative camera tricks, etc... You can see all of them in films from much earlier times. For example, rising from bed is done much better in Nosferatu(1931). If careless effects usage was intentional, what was the aim? Some intellectual explanation like "reversal just like from death back to life" might just make me laugh.All in all, we should not make injustice to excellent movies which can alter our emotions by comparing them with self-indulgent appraisal of artistic pain.

Very few films can hold up after nearly 60 years. Yes, in America here we have The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind (big budget epics) etc. but this film should get some mainstream TV viewing as well, although it won't. American viewers don't like subtitles, at least PBS should show it.I've watched some of the classics like "M", "From The Earth to the Moon", "Metropolis" etc. and for the most part they don't hold up. Metropolis does, but that is because of the crazy cool visuals. Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast and Orpheus both hold up very well.They are both so beautiful and magical that you don't care if they are old or done with outdated technology. Cocteau was a genius of the first order and his art still stands the test of time. To watch a movie like Orpheus and stll be shocked at what happens is a testament to his ability to go for the strange, especially from someone like me who has seen plenty of jaded movies which were meant to be shocking but were merely outre'.See Orpheus (and rent Beauty and the Beast while you are at it) and have a Cocteau Fest, you won't reget it.