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Orphée

  • 1950
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 52m
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
14K
YOUR RATING
Marie Déa, María Casares, Jean Marais, and François Périer in Orphée (1950)
Dark RomanceTragedyDramaFantasyRomance

A poet in love with Death follows his unhappy wife into the underworld.A poet in love with Death follows his unhappy wife into the underworld.A poet in love with Death follows his unhappy wife into the underworld.

  • Director
    • Jean Cocteau
  • Writer
    • Jean Cocteau
  • Stars
    • Jean Marais
    • François Périer
    • María Casares
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.8/10
    14K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Jean Cocteau
    • Writer
      • Jean Cocteau
    • Stars
      • Jean Marais
      • François Périer
      • María Casares
    • 74User reviews
    • 70Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
      • 2 nominations total

    Photos26

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    Top cast27

    Edit
    Jean Marais
    Jean Marais
    • Orphée
    François Périer
    François Périer
    • Heurtebise
    María Casares
    María Casares
    • The Princess - Death
    Marie Déa
    Marie Déa
    • Eurydice
    Henri Crémieux
    Henri Crémieux
    • L'éditeur
    Juliette Gréco
    Juliette Gréco
    • Aglaonice
    Roger Blin
    • The Poet
    Edouard Dermithe
    Edouard Dermithe
    • Jacques Cégeste
    André Carnège
    • Judge
    • (as Maurice Carnège)
    René Worms
    • Judge
    Raymond Faure
    • Journaliste
    Pierre Bertin
    Pierre Bertin
    • Le commissaire
    Jacques Varennes
    Jacques Varennes
    • Judge
    Paul Amiot
    • Judge
    • (uncredited)
    Philippe Bordier
    • Young Man at Café des Poètes
    • (uncredited)
    Claude Borelli
    Claude Borelli
    • Une bacchante
    • (uncredited)
    Jean-Louis Brau
    • Un jeune homme à la terrasse du flore
    • (uncredited)
    Jean Cocteau
    Jean Cocteau
    • Narrator
    • (voice)
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Jean Cocteau
    • Writer
      • Jean Cocteau
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews74

    7.814.1K
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    Featured reviews

    9sanat

    One of the best I have ever seen

    I saw the movie, or most of it, around the age of eight or nine. It made a deep impression on me, and I have wanted to watch it again. Now that I have been able to find out the name and the director, I soon will!

    The special effects in the film, as I recall them, must have been fabulous for the time, and were quite dazzling even by the standards of the eighties. The movie is surreal, and though it sounds trite, this is perhaps the best description. It left one with a delicious feeling, and even after almost twenty years I feel quite thrilled when I think about it. I found the notion of being in love with death, who is portrayed by María Casarès, and whom I found incredibly attractive, was overwhelmingly wonderful. That was my interpretation at that time. I am curious to see what I would think of it now.

    Certainly a terrific film for a child. I think I would still find it wonderful.
    RobertF87

    Surreal and Poetic

    This film is an updating of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The film updates the action to post-war France, with Orpheus (played by Jean Marais) a famous but dis-satisfied poet.

    The film focuses on the themes of love and death. Most notably Orpheus falling in love with a glamorous incarnation of Death (Maria Casares).

    Writer-director Jean Cocteau turns the everyday world into a magical realm. Mirrors turn to pools which are portals to other worlds, car radios pick up coded messages from Death's World. In less talented hands than Cocteau's, the delicate fantasy could have easily become ridiculous but he handles it with brilliance and the film works perfectly.

    Here Cocteau creates a truly poetic film. The story is magical and entertaining and the film is filled with wonderously surreal images (particularly striking is the frequent use of filming an action performed backwards, and then reversing it which creates a very strange impression).
    10rdoyle29

    A beautiful film

    Jean Cocteau is a complete aesthetic package and I love him.

    Cocteau seems to get an idea for a film based around some themes that spark ideas in him, and then includes a lot of images purely for aesthetic reasons. His films seem to belong to no real tradition. He's a tradition unto himself.

    One of the things that really seems to be on his mind here is the middle aged slump into mediocrity. He was 60 years old when he made this film, so his Orpheus's fear that his artistic power has waned must have been a real concern. If you make a film this beautiful, you needn't worry.

    I love that his film has poetry groupies who swarm poets for autographs. The suggestion that Orpheus may have plagiarized Cégeste's work causes poets to storm his house. What a world!

    This film is all sleek black leather and beautiful lo-fi special effects.

    Juliette Gréco and Jean-Pierre Melville show up.
    8cafescott

    Beyond the mirror

    I enjoy the enthusiasm from user reviewer Dave G ("One of the truly great masterpieces of cinema", Dave G from Sheffield, England, 25 January 2000). Also, from peterehoward ("The closest cinema has come to poetry", peterehoward, United Kingdom, 13 November 2005).

    Good background information can be found from rdoyle29 ("A timeless fantasy classic", rdoyle29 from Winnipeg, Canada, 17 September 2000). In addition, Ed from NY, NY ("the most poetic of all films", Ed from New York, NY, 23 May 2002) does a good job in figuring out a perplexing plot turn near the end.

    Jean Cocteau's "Orpheus" (1950) is a bizarre, dream-like journey to the Underworld and back. It is surprising not only because of the depth of its madness, but also because it came out of seemingly buoyant, post-war France. By today's standards the pacing is a little slow; and it is occasionally soporific. However, if you have the patience for it the feeling is this is a cinematic masterpiece that demands repeated viewing.

    Cocteau's nightmarish retelling of the Greek legend featuring poet Orpheus, his frequently-ignored wife Eurydice and the Princess of Death borrows from personal memories of the director as well as Francophile war experiences. For example, the cryptic radio personality that Orpheus obsesses over is regarded to represent the BBC communicating coded words to the French Resistance. In addition, the mob that will assault Orpheus is derived from early intellectual critics of Cocteau's art.

    The actors are first-rate. Cocteau's former lover, Jean Marais, is convincing as a celebrity who can compel others with his magnetism. However, two other cast members are exceptional. Maria Casares is mesmerizing as the Princess of Death. François Périer is also note-perfect as the chauffeur Heurtebise. Ms. Casares, who steals all of her scenes, speaks (the frequently insane) lines of her underworld character with total conviction; she is a principal source of the pervasive horror. Périer's Heurtebise is another character who appears at times to be speaking from another world.

    Visually, Cocteau is interesting throughout. As a writer he creates a grotesque universe. This is a great way to escape mundane human existence--and perhaps, a look at what is coming in the afterlife.
    alicecbr

    One Way to Celebrate a Lay-Off!!!

    There's nothing better than a dark involved movie about death to bring you out of your blues. Having been laid off today from a high-tech, high-paying job, I find that this is a far better escape from my blues than getting skunk-drunk. Now I'll be able to afford the time to see such movies...this was at the Brattle Theater, an arts movie house in Cambridge that regularly shows movies written when brains were necessary to write a script that would be made into a movie. Of course, I saw it way back when but the mark of a good movie is that you see a different movie every time you see it, because YOU change and your interpretation therefore changes. The surreal scenes in the Underground evoke many other images, and, because of their wierdness, cannot be forgotten. It raises questions about the 'finality' of death, and the relative unimportance of so much in life (including jobs/employment). The love of the two protagonists for one another is especially intriguing, since Cocteau at first gives you the impression that Orpheus is a narcissistic writer only in love with himself.

    The fierce command for Orpheus NOT to look at Eurydice reminds you of Lot's wife, as she turned into the pillar of salt. Of course, I still wonder why that part was in here.....maybe just to make us wonder about disobedience.

    The mob throwing rocks at the house was indicative of mob mentality everywhere and anytime.

    The motorcyclists, angels of death, remind you of "The Wild One" as they perform their ghastly tasks in the small French town. As the other dead people make their sacrifices for one another, with no mention of religion, you almost have a re-awakened faith in the power of love. Which is what religion is all about anyhow,-- not in the ghost stories we are told to help make the fear of death/nothingness more pallatable.

    Cocteau was a genius, and his movies are unique. Invest in them while you can, and re-visit them from time to time when you need a reminder of how precious love and life are.

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The opening scenes set in the Cafe des Poetes were originally set to be filmed with regular extras. However, Cocteau found them to be too self-conscious and artificial so they were all dismissed. Instead, real bohemians from Paris' real café culture were drafted in. These proved to be so natural and relaxed with the café setting, they actually stayed on for two extra days after filming had finished, just hanging out in the cafés that the film crew had been using.
    • Goofs
      When Orphée is shot, the gun falls near his right foot. However when Heurtebise picks up the gun; the orientation changes and it is now near his right hand.
    • Quotes

      Heurtebise: I am letting you into the secret of all secrets, mirrors are gates through which death comes and goes. Moreover if you see your whole life in a mirror you will see death at work as you see bees behind the glass in a hive.

    • Connections
      Edited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Une histoire seule (1989)
    • Soundtracks
      Dance of the Blessed Souls -- from Orphée et Eurydice
      Written by Christoph Willibald Gluck

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    FAQ15

    • How long is Orpheus?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 29, 1950 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • France
    • Language
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Orpheus
    • Filming locations
      • Vallée de Chevreuse, Yvelines, France
    • Production companies
      • Andre Paulve Film
      • Films du Palais Royal
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 52m(112 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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