''La Villa Santo Sospir'' (

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

) is a 35-minute amateur or home film directed by

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...

in which Cocteau takes the viewer on a tour of Francine Weisweiller's villa on the French coast, a major location later used in his film ''

Testament of Orpheus ''Testament of Orpheus'' (french: Le testament d'Orphée) is a 1960 black-and-white film with a few seconds of color film spliced in. Directed by and starring Jean Cocteau, who plays himself as an 18th-century poet, the film includes cameo appearan ...

'' (1960). The house itself is heavily decorated, mostly by Cocteau (and a bit by

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

), and we are given an extensive tour of the artwork. Cocteau also shows us several dozen paintings, most of which cover mythological themes. He also proudly shows paintings by Edouard Dermit and

Jean Marais Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais (11 December 1913 – 8 November 1998), known professionally as Jean Marais (), was a French actor, film director, theatre director, painter, sculptor, visual artist, writer and photographer. He performed in over 100 f ...

and plays around his own home in Villefranche.

External links

Film at Ubuweb film
*
Official site
French short films 1952 films 1950s French-language films Films directed by Jean Cocteau French documentary films 1952 documentary films Documentary films about the visual arts 1950s French films {{1950s-France-film-stub