Rating: 
Summary: Orphic, but not a Trilogy
Review: Criterion notwithstanding, this collection of three movies directed by Jean Cocteau is no trilogy. Rather the three works represent three quite different views of the Poet-the prototypic artistic creator for Cocteau--at three different moments in his career. The first, Blood of a Poet (1930) released at the same time as L'Age d'Or of Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali-both pictures were financed by the wealthy patron of the arts, the Vicomte de Noailles-is the most "Orphic" of three, and like L'Age d'Or very much in the vein of French experimental films of the 1920s, with an abundance of symbolism and rejection of conventional narrative syntax. Less radically innovative than L'Age d'Or, Blood of a Poet is like a brilliant book of sketches, some of which work, some of which don't.
Cocteau made no films for over a decade, and only returned to the cinema during the Occupation with The Eternal Return, for which he wrote the screenplay. Although directed by Jean Delannoy, the film was clearly Cocteau's own creation, and marked both the beginning of a period of fertile cinematic collaboration with Jean Marais and a new phase in Cocteau's contributions to film. The masterpiece of this period is, of course, Orpheus (1949). Cocteau had begun in Blood of a Poet by radically breaking with realism. Now he set about showing how the images of modern life could be invested with a mythic power of their own.
In The Eternal Return, Cocteau had put the story of Tristan and Yseult into a modern setting, but without the least hint of irony. In updating the myth of Orpheus to post-World War II Paris, however, he adopted a very different strategy. The Thracian singer becomes a rich and famous writer (Jean Marais) who supplies exactly what the public looks for in literature. At the beginning of the film, Orpheus boasts to an older retired writer, "The public loves me!" And the latter tartly retorts, "The public is alone. But as a result of the unforeseen adventure he lives through in the film, an adventure in which he confronts and falls in love with his own Death (Maria Casares), Orpheus momentarily becomes the Poet he never has been.
Cocteau had placed the myth of the sacrifice of the Poet at the center of Blood of a Poet, and he explicitly articulates it in Orpheus: "The death of a poet requires a sacrifice to make him immortal." However, the "real" Poet, from this point of view, is not Orpheus-who goes back to happily settle down in bourgeois bliss with his expectant wife-but Cegeste (Edouard Dermithe), who becomes the servant of Death, and unquestioningly transmits the messages from the underworld (read: the unconscious). The Poet has to sacrifice himself in order to be more than a writer-"A writer without being a writer," is how he defines the poetic vocation before the Judges of the Underworld-but Orpheus will never have the courage to make that choice by himself.
Not the least astounding thing about Orpheus is the assurance with which Cocteau handles the machinery of commercial film production. Orpheus is hardly a mainstream production by American standards, but it has no ragged edges, technically speaking. The film was strikingly photographed by Nicolas Hayer and it makes a highly adroit use of special effects shots, whose primitive magic Cocteau understood and employed quite effectively. The musical score is by Georges Auric, a member of Les Six who has to rank with Bernard Herrman as one of the major composers of film music in the history of motion pictures. Last but not least, Orpheus has a formidable cast, including-in addition to Jean Marais-François Perier as Heurtebise, Maria Dea as Eurydice, Juliette Greco as her friend Aglaonice, Roger Blin as the older poet, and the sublime Maria Casares as the most glamorous personification of Death ever to appear on the screen.
Viewers will likely have the most difficulty getting into the third movie, The Testament of Orpheus. Cocteau's adieu to the screen is a work filled with spontaneity and invention, so impulsively unstructured as to make Blood of a Poet look like Racinian tragedy. Cocteau plays a traveler lost in time who goes in search of Pallas Athene, but this is a mere pretext for stringing together a series of adventures, like the narrative premise of a picaresque novel. Testament of Orpheus was a movie ahead of its time when it came out 1959, and it remains so today. Possibly its release in DVD may serve to make it known to a wider audience. Criterion has done itself proud with this set. Anyone inclined to balk might consider that three DVDs of this quality at the price are already a bargain. The picture and sound quality of all three movies, each of which has been digitally remastered, is superb. Blood of a Poet was especially impressive in this respect, and I felt as if I were seeing it for the first time. In addition, The Orphic Trilogy includes a wealth of supplementary material such as essays and pronouncements by Cocteau. The set also contains two other films en marge of a non-fictional variety. One of these is Villa Santo Sospir, a 16mm picture about the home of Cocteau's neighbor on the Riviera, Mme. Alec Weisweiller, which he had extensively decorated. Mainly a record of art works, Villa Santo Sospir is his only extended work in color. The other, far more interesting, is a documentary about Cocteau's life entitled Autobiography of an Unknown by Edoardo Cozarinsky. Unfortunately, the picture quality is often dupey and unsatisfactory, but the film provides a number of invaluable interviews from the later phase of Cocteau's career.
Anyone who enjoys The Orphic Trilogy should definitely consider purchasing the Criterion DVD of Beauty and the Beast, and the videotapes of The Eternal Return, The Storm Within (Les Parents terribles), and The Strange Ones (Les Enfants terribles), all available from Amazon.com.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as great a package as I would have hoped
Review: I love Criterion, I own 21 of their current DVD catalogue, but I must admit to being a little disappointed in some of their current releases. The extras, as ever, are more than fine. No, the problem is with the picture. Despite being far better than anything else on the market, the picture has a slightly oversharp, grainy quality that has been indicative of several of Criterion's current DVD releases (Chasing Amy, The Last Temptation of Christ) and some artifacting at times as well. Film grain is to be expected, after all these are old films, but digital grain is not. Don't get me wrong, these are not awful by any means; and if you love these films, like I do, you won't find a better package, it's just that Criterion have set such high standards for themselves that any slip up is noticed.
Rating:
Summary: Thank You Criterion
Review: I love this box set. The condition of 'Blood of a Poet' is amazing; it, and the other movies, are compelling. The DVD extras are superb. Criterion could have charged a lot more for this box.
Rating:
Summary: Thank You Criterion
Review: I love this box set. The condition of 'Blood of a Poet' is amazing; it, and the other movies, are compelling. The DVD extras are superb. Criterion could have charged a lot more for this box.
Rating:
Summary: movies made as art not made to make money
Review: I saw Orpeus by Jean Cocteau in 1997 on a local PBS station that has since been canned. I fell in love with the story and how timeless it is. It is as relevant today as it was in whatever time it was made. There has been a lot of backlash for things french but I don't think we should deprive ourselves of REAL art. Yes it's black and white, spoken in french with english subtitles, and yeah it costs a pretty penny. You know what? It's worth every penny. I've had 2 copies of Orpeus on VHS and they have not yet been returned to me. The quality in those videos doesn't compare to this DVD, for starters you can read all the subtitles clearly which was a problem for me with the VHS and it icludes a lot of behind the scenes stuff and info on this amazing director and his work. This set includes 2 other great movies including The Blood of Poet which replaced Orpeus asbeing my favorite movie and it also comes with The Testament of Orpeus which I'm about to watch right now. If your a lover of art, please get this collection. You have no idea what you're missing out on.
Rating:
Summary: Regarding "Blood Of a Poet"
Review: Jean Cocteau, who would later go on to direct such classics as "Orpheus" and "Beauty and the Beast" began with this short (50min.) non-narrative film. "Blood of a Poet" (included in Criterion's "Orphic Trilogy" in a solid print) explores the figurative and literal blood and sweat that goes into creating a work of art. The film starts with an image of a tall chimney as it starts collapsing (an image that will now probably be impossible to separate from the World Trade Center collapsing) and then shifts to an artist that is painting a portrait. The film then follows this artist as he literally becomes one with his art (the portrait's mouth attaches itself to his hand), as he falls into the world on the other side of the mirror (where he sees such things as an opium den and a child being whipped and implored to take flight), and as he eventually shoots himself in the head to receive "eternal glory", and is immortalized in the form of a statue. The film the shifts to a schoolyard where the statue of the artist is sitting, as a snowball fight erupts. One young child is knocked out and left bloody after the fight. Then the schoolyard reveals itself as a stage with noble spectators. A poet and a woman begin to play cards. The woman tells the poet "If you do not have the Ace of Hearts, then you are lost." The poet, realizing he doesn't have it, pickpockets it from the unconscious boy. Then the boy's guardian angel appears, covers the boy, and takes back his Ace. The poet, without the Ace, kills himself. The crowd applauds. The woman reveals herself to be Death, and wanders off talking of the mortal desire for immortality. We then see the chimney from the film's start collapse completely, suggesting the artist's dilemma lasted only a few seconds. The film is exceptionally vivid. The imagery used here is still stunning despite its low-tech nature. The film's implication that the artist must ... his childhood for inspiration (signified as the Ace of Hearts is stolen), that the artist must view the world as a distortion (viewable through all the bizarre images on display), and that both artistic integrity and fame come at a great price (signified by the multiple suicides in the name of "glory") are all never explicitly stated, but are deeply felt through the images. The film is exceptional in its evocation of the artist's dilemma, and anyone with an analytical mind would find plenty to digest here.
Rating:
Summary: Orpheus
Review: Let me start off by saying that the trilogy itself is a treasure, well worth the price to have these three spectaculary surreal masterpieces in one set and having Criterion give it their famous treatment (even though we reeeeally need to include more extras). My review at the moment is regarding the midle film, 'Orpheus'. You might all be a little familiar with the greek myth by now as I was, but Cocteau's treatment and interpretation are simply stunning. The film by itself is fascinating, I think it has that kind of quality that some foreign films have that whether or not you're used to subtitles you will enjoy the film. Jean Marris (Cocteau's real life lover) is fascinating in the role of Orpheus. Even though the role doesn't seem that complicated and I see him more as a medium with which Cocteau comunicates all that he wants to say about beauty, death, love and above all art. I think that is the basic question the movie brings up: what exactly is art? what makes good art? and how big a role does love play in the artistic process? But those are just hidden treats throughout the movie, and those who pay most attention are the ones who will notice that the movie is indeed deep and fascinating in its own respect. The sequences where Orpheus descends into death's underworld are simply fascinating to experience. Cocteau seems to retry some of the cinematic 'tricks' from his 'Blood of a Poet' and manages to invent some new ones in the process, this aspect is also fun to watch and adds a level of technical wizardry to an already beautiful and stunningly surreal masterpiece. The cinematography is at times also very good, some of the shots are composed in a very difficult way it may seem, and we wonder what exactly is behind the decisions to film in that particular way. All the other actors are also spectacular in their parts, but I think that the actress who played death could have had a lot more impact, maybe with another actress (Cocteau wanted Greta Garbo at first, imagine that!). The costumes and the sets are fantastic. But I think that this film is most valuable becuase it is the perfect way to introduce yourself to surreal cinema and it might also be a good way to get into french cinema, the film is an undoubted masterpiece, it has stood the test of time and it keeps raising deep questions in the viewer's minds to this day. I highly recommend 'Orpheus' and the Orphic Trilogy, if you like Cocteau I'd also check out 'Beauty and The Beast', and if you're a fan of the surreal I recommend trying out Buñuel. Thanks for reading, hope this helps. All in all, I'd rate this film a 9 out of 10!
Rating:
Summary: NOT TO BE MYTHED........!
Review: One can only deal with Cocteau's visions 'one at a time' ORPHEE? To be visited again and again and again. Pity how fractured memory can be and when we applaud our recent crowd of overblown auters - it's perhaps advisable to seek the source.
This telling of the Orphaic tale is brilliantly set in post-war France, with golden godboy Jean Marias [such breathtaking perfect physical structure defies reinvention] the same applies to the rest of the cast in their various guises. Down to Maria Cesare's everchanging gown from black and white and back - [didn't we see something like that from Gaultier in the Mirren movie 'Cook, Wife, etc].
That's only the beginning .... from the kitchen discussion between Euridice and the dead [does not quite admit it though] hunky chauffeur - that delightful moment about 'the gas' - to Marais journey into the underworld.
Costume design - superlative - from the Marais vest to Cesares wasp waist - a feast for the eye.
I'm not going to detail the myth - just perpetuate Cocteau's brilliace.
Perfect adaptation - stands on its own and should never be tampered with.
Rating:
Summary: You Shall Not Be Let Down
Review: One does not have to be a poetry lover to love these works. Jean Cocteau's Orphic Trilogy on DVD is a thoughtful collection of some of the poets finest works. Along with the crystal clarity of the films, the new and improved English subtitles give us so much more than the eariler VHS versions. Possibly even more important than the films is the documentary, Jean Cocteau: Autobiography of an Unknown included as a bonus on the first disc, this alone is worth the price. I suggest that one watches the Autobiography before watching the films. If one understands the poet, one understands the poetry, hence one better understands oneself.
Rating:
Summary: You Shall Not Be Let Down
Review: One does not have to be a poetry lover to love these works. Jean Cocteau's Orphic Trilogy on DVD is a thoughtful collection of some of the poets finest works. Along with the crystal clarity of the films, the new and improved English subtitles give us so much more than the eariler VHS versions. Possibly even more important than the films is the documentary, Jean Cocteau: Autobiography of an Unknown included as a bonus on the first disc, this alone is worth the price. I suggest that one watches the Autobiography before watching the films. If one understands the poet, one understands the poetry, hence one better understands oneself.
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