Synopsis
Told in four episodes, an unnamed artist is transported through a mirror into another dimension, where he travels through various bizarre scenarios. This film is the first part of Cocteau's Orphic Trilogy, which consists of The Blood of a Poet (1932), Orpheus (1950) and Testament of Orpheus (1960).
Votre Filmothèque
Cast
- Enrique RiveroPoet
- Elizabeth Lee MillerStatue
- Pauline CartonThe child trainer
- Odette Talazac
- Jean DesbordesLouis XV Friend
- Fernand Dichamps
- Lucien JagerA spectator in a box
- Féral BengaBlack Angel
- BarbetteA spectator
- Jean CocteauBit Part (uncredited)
Recommandations
- 80
Empire
Cocteau has produced a bizarre, interesting although at times tedious movie. - 80
TV Guide Magazine
What is so remarkable about THE BLOOD OF THE POET is that Cocteau has created a lasting piece of art, a haunting poem, as exciting today as it was in 1930. - 80
The A.V. Club
Few drug-induced visions, however, can match the playful ingenuity of this freewheeling assault on the senses, which eschews conventional narrative in favor of one mesmerizingly bizarre image after another. - 80
The New Yorker
The first time you see this film, you're likely to find it silly, autoerotic, static, absurd, and you may feel cheated after having heard so much about it. But though it may seem to have no depth, you're not likely to forget it -- it has a suggestiveness unlike any other film. - 75
The A.V. Club
As a groundbreaking examination of the reality-bending potential of film, it's of a piece with Un Chien Andalou and L'Age D'Or. - 70
Time Out
The honesty and robustness of the images prevents the movie from lapsing into pretension or preciousness; it remains extremely interesting as a source of Cocteau's later work. - 63
Chicago Reader
Despite its flaws, the film remains a fascinating souvenir of a vanished avant-garde. - 50
The New York Times
While the various imaginery episodes shown on the screen, to the accompaniment of microphone comment by M. Cocteau himself, reinforced by English titles for those unfamiliar with French, have a certain fascination, especially for persons interested in film technique, they are hardly calculated to set the Hudson River on fire.
