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Le Testament d'Orphée (1959)

Director: Jean Cocteau

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From Time Out Film Guide

Cocteau's last film is as personal and private as its title suggests, and it makes little sense for viewers unfamiliar with his other work. It's a wry, self-conscious re-examination of a lifetime's obsessions, with Cocteau playing himself at the centre of the mythology that he created in countless books, plays, films and paintings. This mythology yields a torrent of familiar characters, situations, effects and images, all of them quoted in a spirit of bewilderment and growing disillusionment: Cocteau finally disappears into his fictional world, leaving the real world to a noisy new generation. Nothing about the film is in the least seductive except for its fundamental openness; the tone veers between gentle irony and low-key pessimism. Cocteau admirers will probably find it very moving.

Author: TR 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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Cast & crew

Director: Jean Cocteau

Producer: Jean Thuillier

Cast: Jean Cocteau, Edouard Dermithe, Henri Crémieux, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Maria Casarès, François Périer, Jean Marais, Yul Brynner, Pablo Picasso, Lucia Bosè, Charles Aznavour, Françoise Sagan, Roger Vadim, Daniel Gélin full cast

Duration: 83 mins


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