Saturday, September 21, 2013

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.

2 comments:

  1. i am saddened to find that someone i never knew, the creator of this site passed on back in 2014. loved and missed. spoken of with warmth by others. a lover of the same jean cocteau. threads connecting across time and space... life and beyond.

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