Orpheus

Director: Jean Cocteau

1950 / 95min / 35mm

Cocteau’s lushly lyric, allegorical update of the Orpheus myth, based on his play of the same title, depicts a famous poet (Jean Marais) who’s scorned by the Left Bank youth, torn between his love for his wife, Eurydice (Marie Déa), and a mysterious, black-clad princess (Maria Casarès). Seeking inspiration, the poet follows the princess from the world of the living to the land of the dead, a dreamlike journey that begins with his passage through Cocteau’s famous mirrored portal, one of the film’s several enchanting low-budget effects.

Part of Dream with Your Eyes Open