The Testament of Orpheus

The third and concluding episode of surrealist Jean Cocteau's renowned Orphic trilogy is a panegyric to life as an artist. Returning to the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, Cocteau looks back over his career as a poet, painter, playwright, novelist, designer and filmmaker, and at the people who helped him to live la vie artistique. Journeying beyond death to a surrealist underworld of totemic spectres, Cocteau searches for enlightenment and the goddess Athena herself. Drawing on the breadth of his own interests, The Testament of Orpheus is populated by some of the 20th century's greatest names: chanteur Charles Aznavour, bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín, dancer-choreographer Serge Lifar, the great Pablo Picasso and Yul Brynner, alongside some of the leading players of French cinema: Maria Casarès, Daniel Gélin, Jean Pierre Léaud, and Jean Marais.

Language: French with English subtitles