Synopsis:
Poet, painter, playwright, and French national treasure Jean Cocteau's final film, THE TESTAMENT OF ORPHEUS, is an autobiographical fantasia of themes, symbols, and mythologies that the legendary...
Poet, painter, playwright, and French national treasure Jean Cocteau's final film, THE TESTAMENT OF ORPHEUS, is an autobiographical fantasia of themes, symbols, and mythologies that the legendary artist had been busy creating his whole life. Playing various versions of himself, Cocteau glides through the film as a time traveler in search of his place in the universe. The baroque lyricism of Cocteau's cinematic universe is summoned in a kind of striptease act as he literally resurrects characters and actors from many of his previous films, especially ORPHEUS and BLOOD OF A POET. Cocteau retells his life utilizing the surreal special effects (smoke, mirrors made of water, reverse-motion imagery) and lyrical montages that make his poetic visionary cinema so distinctive. An all-star cast (including Pablo Picasso, Yul Brynner, and Jean-Pierre Léaud) peoples the whirlwind of shadowy seaside landscapes, death-tinged iconography, and melancholy reminiscences that make up Cocteau's intensely personal homage to himself and his work.
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