The Blood of a Poet
d. Jean Cocteau, 1930
Cocteau's first film, The Blood of a Poet, could be seen as the birth of the cinematic avant-garde movement. Other notable films of this period include Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali's Un chien andalou and the work of Dziga Vertov. Cocteau's film, a 50-minute exploration of what it means to be an artist, may the most radical and beautiful of them all. As a series of striking unforgettable images, The Blood of a Poet is quite astonishing. But I prefer the more artful reading of the film, in which Cocteau (not only a filmmaker, but a poet, writer, painter, and boxing promoter) laid out the simple outline of the perils of being an artist. To my eyes and my ears The Blood of a Poet registers like a poem.
Orpheus
d. Jean Cocteau, 1949
The most linear of the three, Orpheus is to many Cocteau's best work. It takes the old Orphic myth in which a Greek musician recedes to the land of the dead to find his lover. There, Hades agreed to let her back to the world of the living on the condition that he not look at her. Cocteau's adaptation keeps the basic structure, but he brilliantly adds his own personal touch. There is a love triangle between Orpheus, his wife, and Death. It's also a beautiful portrayal of the culture of the time.
Testament of Orpheus
d. Jean Cocteau, 1960
Cocteau's final film is also the most free-form narrative of these three films, as it features Cocteau revisiting several stages of his career. Closer in its theme to The Blood of a Poet, Testament of Orpheus serves a final goodbye to one of cinema's greatest figures, and a final poignant examination on the relationship between the director and his films. The film has appearances by Cocteau's friend, Pablo Picasso, the cast of Orpheus, and French New Wave icon Jean-Pierre Leud.
