New Release: Orpheus Blu-ray and DVD

Jean Marais prepares to step through the mirror in Orpheus.

Orpheus, Jean Cocteau’s 1950 fantastical update of the renowned Greek myth, will receive what’s sure to be a sparkling release by Criterion on Blu-ray and DVD on Aug. 16. The Blu-ray and DVD will carry the list prices of $39.99 and $29.99, respectively.

Cocteau’s film focuses on a famous poet (Jean Marais, Beauty and the Beast) scorned by the Left Bank youth, and his love for both his wife Eurydice (Marie Déa) and a mysterious princess (Maria Casarès). In search of inspiration, the poet follows the princess to the land of the dead through a dazzling mirrored portrayal, where more dreamlike storytelling and visual poetry awaits.

The second movie in Cocteau’s Orphic Trilogy, which also includes 1930’s The Blood of a Poet and Testament of Orpheus from 1959, Orpheus remains one of the surrealist artist’s most mesmerizing, sensual films.

Presented in French with English subtitles, the Blu-ray and DVD of Orpheus will boast a new high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray, plus these spcial features:

• audio commentary by French film scholar James Williams
  
• Jean Cocteau: Autobiography of an Unknown, a 1984 feature-length documentary
• video piece from 2008 featuring assistant director Claude Pinoteau on the special effects in the film
  
• 40 Minutes With Jean Cocteau, an interview with the director from 1957
  
• In Search of Jazz, a 1956 interview with Cocteau on the use of jazz in the film
  
• La Villa Santo-Sospir, a 16 mm color Cocteau film from 1951
• gallery of images by French film portrait photographer Roger Corbeau
• raw newsreel footage of the Saint-Cyr military academy ruins, a location used in the film
• theatrical trailer
• booklet featuring an essay by author Mark Polizzotti, selected Cocteau writings on the film, and an essay on La villa Santo-Sospir by Williams

Buy or Rent Orpheus
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