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Orphée (also known as Orpheus) is a 1949 movie directed by Jean Cocteau starring Jean Marais.
Plot outline
Set in contemporary Paris, the movie is a variation of the classic Greek myth of Orpheus. Here, Orphée is a poet who becomes obsessed with Death (the Princess). They fall in love. Orphée's wife, Eurydice, is killed by the Princess' henchmen and Orphée goes after her into the Underworld. Although they have become dangerously entangled, the Princess sends Orphée back out of the Underworld, to carry on his life with Eurydice.
Orphée shows Cocteau's taste for enchantment; he uses very simple special effects and trick shots to show his characters passing into the world of death and back to life: by stepping through mirrors or simply by running the film backward.
This movie is the main part of Jean Cocteau's Orphic Trilogy consisting of The Blood of a Poet (1930), Orpheus (1949) and Testament of Orpheus (1959). The trilogy has been released as a DVD boxed set by The Criterion Collection.