Le testament d'Orphee [Testament of Orpheus]

Paris: Cinedis, 1960. Original black-and-white photographic lobby card from the 1960 film, "Testament of Orpheus," Jean Cocteau's final work in the cinema.

The last film in Cocteau's "Orphic" trilogy, following "The Blood of a Poet" (1930) and "Orphee" (1950). The only film in the trilogy featuring Cocteau himself, as an aging poet who knows he is dying (as indeed he was), his greatest desire being to experience rebirth so that he can qualify for celestial immortality.

With cameos by Pablo Picasso, Charles Aznavour, bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguen, and Yul Brynner. A few seconds of color are spliced in at one point, a surreal effect used prior to this film in "Portrait of Jennie" (1948) and later in Samuel Fuller's "Shock Corridor" (1963).

Having run out of funds in mid-production, Cocteau was given the prize money won by Francois Truffaut for "Les Quatre Cents Coups" in 1959 to complete filming. Truffaut, the father of the French New Wave, produced the film.

12 x 9.5 inches, double weight. Near Fine. Small French cinema photo store logo stamped on the verso.

Criterion Collection 69.

[Book #128562]