Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Cebalord Very best movie i ever watch

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

gavin6942 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.

dlee2012 This work, arguably Cocteau's finest, transposes the Orpheus myth to a contemporary (though dream-like) setting. Poetry, surrealism and classical mythology blend in an effective and often subtle way as Orpheus struggles to renounce his fixation with Death and reclaim Eurydice from her realm.Notions of what constitutes poetry are questioned throughout. In an inspired move, Cocteau has Orpheus take notes from a "Numbers Station", hinting at the post-War world's obsessive questioning of what actually constitutes art and the paranoia of the emerging Cold War. The character of Orpheus may actually be read to represent a secret agent, rescuing Eurydice from the mysterious realm behind what had just been coined "The Iron Curtain." Death, a doyen of this realm faces trial for treason by a panel of her peers, perhaps a representation of the show trials of the late Stalinist period. Orpheus' infatuation with death is perhaps also a reflection of the mentality of a Cold War spy's coldly murderous ethos. Orpheus' poetry may likewise be as vacuous and ephemeral as the clash of ideologies that prompted the War. Notably, it is when he is denounced as a plagiarist that his infatuation with Death grows, to the point where he no longer cares about Death's opposite, the new life his wife is carrying. He is too blinkered by ideology to see that the child represents the hope of a post-Communist and post-Capitalist future.Entering the mirror world (representing the ideology that is the opposite of his own), Orpheus is presented with a stagnant world of ruins and bureaucrats working to their own agendas, as if time has stood still at the end of the Second World War. This contrasts the relaxed, sun-drenched land of cafés and large modern automobiles in his reality. The numbers stations have entranced him and it is across, into the world of the opposing, "dead" ideology that he enters.Death's helpers are represented as motorcycle police, the very embodiment of the authority of the State and the ideology it represents.As thoughtful as this film is, it has its weaknesses, mostly of a technical nature. Of course, the special effects are primitive to the point of being laughable by today's standards and Marais' acting is weak. Casares does give a fascinating but uneven performance as Death. The films pace also falters at times, undermining the poetic mood that had been so carefully established.Whilst most viewers today will the idea of someone so ruthless and evil as a Cold War spy (of any faction) being presented as a hero to be morally repugnant, particularly in this case as it represents the undermining of the poetic ideal, one must note that Orpheus eventually rejects his infatuation with death and obsession with poetry and returns rescues his wife and child. This, then, can be read, if we follow the allegory to its conclusion, as a rejection of the twin ideologies of Communism and Capitalism and instead looking to a post-ideology future and the traditional values of the family instead of those imposed by either the State or the lure of wealth and fame.

tugrul-anildi 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.

pontifikator Jean Cocteau's heartbreaking story of love and longing is based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice updated to 1950, when the film was made.Cocteau favorite Jean Marais plays the title role, Marie Dea plays his wife (Eurydice), and Maria Casares plays his death. Cocteau was a brilliant filmmaker and screenwriter, and he chose his subjects well. See the paragraph below* for a summary of the ancient myth on which the film is based.In 1950, Orpheus is a poet who has no following. He accepts a ride from a princess and listens to the radio in her car. During World War II, many people used broadcast radio to send coded messages to underground cohorts or spies in other lands. The princess's radio picks these up, and Orpheus transcribes them as his poetry, to great initial success. Things take a turn for the worse, though, as he's charged with plagiarism and the princess sends Eurydice to the underworld before Eurydice's time on earth was up. The princess is death, and her premature action leads to consternation in the underworld, giving Orpheus the opportunity to plead his case for the return of Eurydice.A poet of considerable talent himself, Cocteau uses "Orpheus" to examine creativity, bureaucracy, and remorse. In his youth, Orpheus was a national hero for his poetry, but he's older now, and the young poets are replacing him with blank pages - absurdity for its own sake is better than being thought absurd for what you've written. Cocteau was 60 when he wrote and directed this film, and he could look back on fame and its ephemerality with more equanimity than his character Orpheus could.Cocteau creates a remarkable array of special effects for Orpheus's trip below. Without computers and without much in the way of trick photography, Cocteau manages to persuade us that Orpheus can pass through mirrors and walk backwards through the underground passages. As with "Beauty and the Beast," the effects are the servant of their master, adding to the story, never overpowering it, never intruding. The princess's costumes are amazing. The costumes of the motorcyclists that are her outriders are fairly accurate renderings of motorcycle police uniforms, but they mirror her waist-cinched gowns very effectively. Watch the changes in her gown as she becomes infatuated with Orpheus and comes and goes through the mirror-portals. Cocteau was such a genius, as was his costumer, Marcel Escoffier.As in the myth, death is overcome by love. When death becomes passionate for Orpheus, she knows for the first time the meaning of love, longing, anger, and remorse. She acts for the first time on her own accord, to have Eurydice die so the princess can have Orpheus. The gods are taken aback that death would act without their authority, and they reverse her decision, returning Eurydice to life. Heurtebise, death's chauffeur, has fallen in love with Eurydice, but still he follows death's command and returns to the couple to life at the time of their greatest happiness. The sacrifice of the princess and her chauffeur (played by Francois Perier) is unexpected, and the resulting happiness of Orpheus and Eurydice is heartbreaking when witnessed through the Heurtebise's eyes. Georges Auric's score is spare, but majestic. You can hear some of it in this YouTube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91cniSsNwz8 and watch some of Cocteau's effects as Heurtebise takes Orpheus back to the real world. I would contrast Auric's use of percussion with Bernard Herrmann's snare drums in "Taxi Driver." In both films, the music is an integral part of the story.Cocteau comes as close as any soundfilm director to the beauty of cinematography in silent films. "Orpheus" is a beautiful film.*In Greek myth, Orpheus was the son of Apollo and Calliope (the most gifted of the nine Muses) and a gifted poet and musician. The Greeks rhapsodized about his powers with song and lyre, and I recommend reading some of their myths about Orpheus. When his wife, Eurydice, died, Orpheus played and sang so sadly that the gods wept and allowed him to go to the underworld and beg Hades for her return. His songful wish was granted (Hades himself being reduced to tears), but as ever there was a catch. Eurydice was to follow him, and if he turned to see if she were there she would be swept back to the underworld. (Do you trust your gods?) Of course he couldn't stand it and looked to see if she were there. (What is it about us mortals that we can't follow clear directions and not look back? Story at 11:00 by our senior correspondent, Lot's wife.) There are variations on the story (Greek myths changed with the times and needs of its peoples). In some stories she vanished forever, leaving him bereft. In others, the gods won Eurydice's partial release for six months - giving us spring and summer when she returns to the surface, then fall and winter upon her descent. It's a wonderful story and well worth searching out. And if you've ever been to The Orpheum, now you know the origin of the name.