Testament of Orpheus (1960)

7.2Not Rated81 minDirector: Jean Cocteau

1960 French film

Testament of Orpheus (French: Le testament d'Orphée) is a 1960 black-and-white film with a few seconds of color film spliced into it. Directed by and starring Jean Cocteau, who plays himself as an 18th-century poet, the film includes cameo appearances by Pablo Picasso, Jean Marais, Charles Aznavour, Jean-Pierre Leaud, and Yul Brynner. It is considered the final part of The Orphic Trilogy, following The Blood of a Poet (1930) and Orphée (1950).

One critic described it as a "wry, self-conscious re-examination of a lifetime's obsessions" with Cocteau placing himself at the center of the mythological and fictional world he spun throughout his books, films, plays and paintings. The film includes numerous instances of "double takes", including one scene where Cocteau, walking past himself, looks back to see himself in what was described by one scholar as "a retrospective on the Cocteau œuvre".

The New York Times called it "self-serving", noting that the pretension of the film was certainly intended by Cocteau as his last statement made on film: "as much a long-winded self-analysis as an extraordinary succession of visually arresting images".

Picasso had introduced Cocteau to the photographer Lucien Clergue who was brought in to photo-document the film's production. His black-and-white stills were published in 2001 as Jean Cocteau and The Testament of Orpheus.

Plot summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

FAQ

What is Testament of Orpheus about?
Testament of Orpheus (1960) — The poet Jean Cocteau is lost in space-time. He has been in the 18th century and is now turning up at different moments in professor Langevin's life. The professor has invented some bullets, which travel faster than light. With one of them he kills Cocteau, who is resurrected as
Is Testament of Orpheus based on a true story?
See the production background and source material details on the official Wikipedia article.
Is Testament of Orpheus scary?
Content rating: Not Rated. See the reviews tab for parental guidance and tone notes.