Orpheus

1950

1h 35m

Fantasy

List

97%

Tomatometer

33 Reviews

89%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

At the Café des Poètes in Paris, a fight breaks out between the poet Orphée (Jean Marais) and a group of resentful upstarts. A rival poet, Cègeste (Edouard Dermithe), is killed, and a mysterious princess (María Casares) insists on taking Orpheus and the body away in her Rolls-Royce. Orphée soon finds himself in the underworld, where the Princess announces that she is, in fact, Death. Orpheus escapes in the car back to the land of the living, only to become obsessed with the car radio.

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Critics Consensus

Heavy with symbolism and deliberately paced, Orpheus may not be for everyone -- but as an example of Jean Cocteau's eccentric genius, it's all but impossible not to recommend.

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

It has the mystery and elasticity of a dream, and all the farcical comic horror of chancing across the intricate contents of the Blessed Virgin's lingerie collection.

Rated: 5/5

Oct 18, 2018

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Variety Staff

Variety

Jean Cocteau's scripting and directing give the film its proper key of unworldliness.

Mar 26, 2009

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David Parkinson

Empire Magazine

Cocteau's visual imagination, leading us through mirrors into a bomb-scarred dreamworld governed by the femme fatale of Death, is enduringly magical and strongly cinematic.

Rated: 5/5

Apr 1, 2006

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

...this sublime original offers mystery and magic in gloopy, ric, black and white images that feel like the fevered opium dream of their esteemed creator...

Rated: 4/5

Jan 23, 2024

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Carson Timar

ClapperCast

Just like a great play, the flow of dialogue here is excellent and there are so many strong concepts throughout the feature.

Aug 17, 2023

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Jean-Luc Godard

Cahiers du Cinéma

A magical film where each image, like the lark in the mirror, reflects only itself, that is to say, us.

Apr 6, 2022

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Logan D

A woman coerces a poet to escort the corpse of a fellow poet to her home. He is soon drawn into a world of unexpected reality. Full of symbolism, the film is paced at a slow tempo. The special effects, which I'm sure were exceptional at the time, still impress. It's a very well crafted work, maybe not for everyone, but certainly a magical film worthy of study or enjoyment.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/25/23

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David D

Very distinctive version of classical legend. I've just seen it for the first time and it saddened me how anti-intellectual our culture has become. Inconceivable that anything as challenging could be made now

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

06/30/23

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elana k

Its fun to simply enjoy a work art, an art film such as this. One need not dwell too long on its symbolism and/or interpretations. It is fine to simply behold the eccentricities of the filmmakers mind, to revel in and the form and style. First I found myself lost in my questions, then the experience gave way to the enjoyment of cinema and the performances, the mystery and the absurdity. And now I want to watch it again.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

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Christopher B

Another poetic and beautifully lensed film from Jean Cocteau on a subject he is very fond of both professionally and personally. This is his take on Orpheus set in 50s Paris and featuring some eerie and gorgeously gothic imagery much like his version of Beauty and the Beast. A great symbolic and meditative film to be absorbed and thought upon. From a refined time and place by an amazing and gifted Director. This is cinema of a by-gone age that feels just like a dream, much the same as the film itself encapsulates.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

10/23/22

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andrey k

Amazing flight of imagination; together with Beauty and the Beast it is one of the best examples of fantasy in cinema; it's so rich in symbolism, metaphors and every other sort of poetic features that it's hard to find the beginning of concealed meanings.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

Enjoyably clever French cinema which works better than most beyond the grave efforts. Nicely thought through with good twists and turns.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

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Jean Cocteau

Director

Jean Marais

Orphée

María Casares

The Princess

François Perier

Heurtebise

Marie Déa

Eurydice

Juliette Gréco

Aglaonice

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Synopsis

At the Café des Poètes in Paris, a fight breaks out between the poet Orphée (Jean Marais) and a group of resentful upstarts. A rival poet, Cègeste (Edouard Dermithe), is killed, and a mysterious princess (María Casares) insists on taking Orpheus and the body away in her Rolls-Royce. Orphée soon finds himself in the underworld, where the Princess announces that she is, in fact, Death. Orpheus escapes in the car back to the land of the living, only to become obsessed with the car radio.

Director: Jean Cocteau
Screenwriter: Jean Cocteau
Production Co: Andre Paulve Film
Genre: Fantasy
Original Language: Canadian French
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 15, 2020
Runtime: 1h 35m

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