landscapes - jean cocteau

le sang d'un poète 

the blood of a poet 

1930/1932

la belle et la bête

beauty and the beast 

 1946

l'aigle à deux têtes

the eagle has two heads 

1948

les parents terribles 1948

orphée

orpheus 

 1950

when i was quite young & had just moved to los angeles, being a somewhat introverted person, i would rent videos almost every day.  i loved to watch one director at a time - it was a great way to learn what you liked & didn't like as well as just learning about life & cinema in general.

i still remember the day i rented all the cocteau films. i must have been around 17 or 18.  foreign films were super glamorous & angst-y & i loved nothing more.  i imagine every teenage cinephile has the same experience the first time one watches cocteau - how could you not?  that overwhelming feeling of existentialism & surrealism with a capital E and S.

his films were so poetic & gorgeous & surreal. i still remember the first time i saw the scene with françois périer as heurtebise say to jean marais as orpée:

                i'll give the secret of secrets. mirrors are the doors

                through which death comes and goes. look at yourself

                in a mirror all your life...and you'll see death at work

                like bees in a hive of glass.

uh, pretty much blew my teenage mind. and now, as an adult on the other side, i sometimes remember those words when i see my reflection.