The Testament of Orpheus Reviews

Poet-filmmaker-sculptor-painter Jean Cocteau bade a fond farewell to cinema with this free-flowing, spirited collection of images and scenes that includes characters from his past films and personal friends. What there is of a story retreads the ground of Cocteau's THE BLOOD OF A POET (1930) and ORPHEUS (1949), bringing his cinematic career (which is difficult to separate from his other pursuits) full circle. For fans of Cocteau, everything in this picture will strike a familiar chord--a poet lives, must die, is resurrected, and must die again to qualify for immortality. Cocteau again employs some of the most inventive and beautiful photographic manipulations ever done in films, including the reverse motion techniques that never fail to bring a smile to his devotees. The cast reads like a cultural who's who--Pablo Picasso, Charles Aznavour, Francoise Sagan, Brigitte Bardot, Roger Vadim, Jean-Pierre Leaud, and, yes, Yul Brynner. Also making appearances are familiar faces from ORPHEUS, including Jean Marais, Maria Casares, Edouard Dermit, Francois Perier, and Henri Cremieux. Francois Truffaut, in honor of one of his masters, assisted with the production and financing of the picture. A pure, personal poem from one of the greats, THE TESTAMENT OF ORPHEUS allows Cocteau to live on forever.