''Testament of Orpheus'' () is a 1960 black-and-white film with a few seconds of color film spliced into it. Directed by and starring

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...

, who plays himself as an 18th-century poet, the film includes cameo appearances by

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

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 ...

Charles Aznavour Charles Aznavour ( ; ; ; born Shahnur Vaghinak Aznavourian; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a Armenians in France, French singer and songwriter of Armenian descent. Aznavour was known for his distinctive vibrato tenor voice: clear and ringi ...

, Jean-Pierre Leaud, and

Yul Brynner Yuliy Borisovich Briner (; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner (), was a Russian-born actor. He was known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical ''The King and I'' (19 ...

. It is considered the final part of ''

The Orphic Trilogy ''The Orphic Trilogy'' is a series of three French films written and directed by Jean Cocteau: * '' The Blood of a Poet'', or ''Le sang d'un poète'', 1930 * ''Orpheus'', or ''Orphée'' (also the title used in the UK), 1950 * ''Testament of Orph ...

'', 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 Lucien Clergue (; 14 August 1934 – 15 November 2014) was a French photographer. He was Chairman of the Academy of Fine Arts, Paris for 2013. Biography Lucien Clergue was born in Arles, France. At the age of 7 he began learning to play the ...

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''. Clergue, Lucien. ''Jean Cocteau and The Testament of Orpheus''. New York: Viking Studio, 2001, ISBN 0-670-89258-0

References

External links

*
''Testament of Orpheus''
an essay by Jean Cocteau at the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of arthouse film distributo ...

French black-and-white films 1960s fantasy films French fantasy films 1960s French-language films Films directed by Jean Cocteau Films about Orpheus Films scored by Georges Auric Films with screenplays by Jean Cocteau 1960s French films {{fantasy-film-stub