What It's About:

One of cinema's great dreamers, French filmmaker, writer, artist, and gadfly Jean Cocteau is perhaps best remembered for this trilogy of movies exploring the mysterious process of artistic creation via the Greek myth of Orpheus. "The Blood of a Poet" (1930) is a captivating tone-poem of suggestive, potent images. "Orpheus" (1950) is a stirring, dreamlike adaptation concerning the descent of a young poet to the Underworld to retrieve his dead lover. Cocteau's last film, "The Testament of Orpheus" (1960) is a nostalgic walkabout through the imaginary dreamscape of Cocteau's own oeuvre, starring Cocteau himself as a aging poet confronting his own mortality.

Why I Love It:

Cocteau's influence on cinema-especially in France-is hard to overstate. From his early dalliance in surrealism (Bunuel and Picasso were close friends) to the development of his own special effects and uniquely magical style, Cocteau was revered by younger artists, including Truffaut, who produced "Testament." Of the trilogy, "Orpheus" is his magnum opus, with star Jean Marais giving a splendid performance opposite Maria Casares, the Princess of Darkness whom Orpheus beseeches to return his beloved Eurydice, killed in a car accident. Obsessed with the Orphic myth throughout his life, the aging Cocteau brought together a clutch of friends to appear in "Testament," an ode to artistic immortality featuring Charles Aznavour, Brigitte Bardot, Picasso, Roger Vadim, and many others. This is essential viewing for serious film lovers.