Jean Cocteau, one of the greatest pan-artistic creators of the 20th century, championed the avant-garde in all branches of all arts -- poetry, theater, music, dance and (not least) cinema -- with superb advice for his own and subsequent generations:
"Listen carefully to first criticisms of your work. Note just what it is about your work that the critics don't like -- then cultivate it. That's the part of your work that's individual and worth keeping."
Diaghilev, looking for a new dance sensation, dared him to "Astonish me!" -- and Cocteau did: "Parade" (1917, Satie and Picasso), "Le Boeuf sur le toit" (1920, Milhaud) and "Oedipus Rex" (1927, Stravinsky) changed ballet and opera forever. In the fabulous artistic ferment of between-the-wars Europe, it was a short step for Cocteau from the old literary, performing and visual arts to the new technological one that combined them all.
Cinema he viewed as but another, highly kinetic form of poetry and, as such, a useful mode for extending his poetic vision in literature and theater. His first film, "Blood of a Poet" (1930), was made with the backing of Vicomte de Noailles, who gave Cocteau complete freedom to ignore the conventions of a medium he had never attempted before.
"The only way to make a good film is to know nothing about filmmaking," he declared with splendid arrogance, and the result was a stunning visual delight -- the obsessions and preoccupation with death of a poet trying to escape his muse and his past.
The real-life poet was periodically trying to escape his own aestheticism, homosexuality and deep depression leading to opium addiction. (The Nazi occupation of France, says one biographer, troubled him only for interfering with his opium supply.) "Beauty and the Beast" (1946), his dazzling masterpiece -- like "Orpheus" (1950) and "The Testament of Orpheus" (1960) -- served as a tour de force for his favorite actor and intimate friend Jean Marais. ("At one point," said Marais, "he wanted to marry my mother so that I could become his son.") All his films have been criticized as pretentious and self-indulgent, which they are -- as well as the most inventive in French history.
"Art is not a pastime but a priesthood," said Cocteau, a not-so-good shepherd with a hearty contempt for his flock. "If it had to choose who is to be crucified, the crowd will always save Barabbas. ... It is not up to us to obey the public, which does not know what it wants, but to compel the public to follow us."
Such magnificent Gallican gall. But I like the Cocteau pronouncement I had up on my dorm-room wall in college best:
"I believe in luck. How else can you explain the success of those you dislike?"
Film schedule
The Andy Warhol Museum's "The Art of Jean Cocteau" includes a showcase for the artist's films. All screenings begin at 7 p.m. in the museum theater.
Nov. 24: "The Blood of a Poet (Le Sang d'un poete)," France, 1930, 58 minutes, directed by Jean Cocteau. With Lee Miller, Pauline Carton, Odette Talazac, Enrique Rivero. In French with English subtitles. The collapse of a chimney sets into motion the first film in Cocteau's "Orphic Trilogy." This symbolic, surreal fantasy contains much of the personal iconography and themes developed in his poems, novels, and drawings.
Nov. 24: "Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la bete)," France, 1946, 96 minutes. Directed by Jean Cocteau. With Jean Marais, Josette Day. In French with English subtitles. Poetic elegance and visual enchantment distinguish Cocteau's re-creation of this classic French fairy tale. Acknowledged as the director's masterpiece, the film evokes a concrete sense of magic and mystery.
Dec. 1: "Les Enfants Terribles," France, 1950, 105 minutes. Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. Written by Cocteau, Jean-Pierre Melville from the novel by Cocteau. With Nicole Stephane, Edouard Dermithe, Renee Cosima, Jacques Bernard, Melvyn Martin, and Jean Cocteau as the narrator. In French with English subtitles. This is a mysterious tale of a brother and sister who exist within their own private world of obsessions and dreams. Their games are interrupted by an intruder from the outside world.
Dec. 1: "Thomas the Impostor (Thomas L'imposteur)," France, 1964, 98 minutes. Directed by Georges Franju. Written by Cocteau from his novel, Georges Franju, Michel Worms. With Emmanuelle Riva, Jean Servais, Fabrice Rouleau, Jean Marais. In French with English subtitles. Cocteau chose Franju to direct his story of a charmingly innocent young poet who, impersonating an aristocratic officer during World War I, treats the madness of the battlefield as a glorious theatrical spectacle.
Dec. 15: "The Eternal Return (L'Eternel retour)," France, 1943, 111 minutes. Directed by Jean Delannoy. Written by Cocteau. With Jean Marais, Madeleine Sologne, Junie Astor, Yvonne de Bray. In French with English subtitles. A modern adaptation of Tristan and Isolde, set in an ancient castle. The film is a dreamy tale about the doomed love affair between a beautiful young man and his best friend's fiancee.
Dec. 15: "La Princess de Cleves," (France/Italy, 1960), 115 minutes. Directed by Jean Delannoy. Written by Cocteau and Jean Delannoy from the 17th-century psychological novel by Madame de Lafayette. In French with English subtitles. Unconsummated love is the theme of this lush historical drama that focuses on period details as well as on the inner world of its heroine.
Dec. 22: "The Eagle With Two Heads (L'Aigle a deux tetes)," France, 1947, 93 minutes. Directed and written by Cocteau. With Yvonne de Bray, Jean Debucourt, Edwige Feuillere, Jean Marais. In French with English subtitles. Cocteau adapted his play for this extravagant production, set in the 19th century, about a cloistered queen who falls in love with the anarchist poet who is coming to assassinate her.
Dec. 22: "The Mystery of Oberwald (Ii Mistero di Oberwald)," Italy/West Germany, 1980, 129 minutes. Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Written by Antonioni and Tonino Guerra, based on the play by Cocteau, "The Eagle with Two Heads." In Italian with English subtitles. This adaptation of "The Eagle with Two Heads" is another bold technical accomplishment for Antonioni. Monica Vitti plays the queen who falls in love with the assassin who resembles her dead husband.
Dec. 29: "Orpheus (Orphee)," France, 1949, 111 minutes. Directed by Cocteau. With Jean Marais, Frangois Perier, Maria Casares, Marie Dea. In French with English subtitles. In this modern-day re-telling of the classical myth, the poet Orpheus becomes the personification of Cocteau himself and the story serves to depict Cocteau's idea of the many "deaths" which a poet must endure to produce his artistic creations.
Dec. 29: "The Testament of Orpheus (Le Testament d' Orphee)," France, 1960, 83 minutes. Directed by Cocteau. With Cocteau, Edouard Dermithe, Jean Marais, Maria Casares, Claudine Auger, Charles Aznavour, Lucia Bose, Yul Brynner, Jean-Pierre Leaud, Pablo Picasso, Roger Vadim. In French with English subtitles. Cocteau intended this film to be his cinematic epitaph. He plays his own hero and presents an idealized recapitulation of his life and works, including actors from previous films, friends from his private life and familiar images from his drawings.
Jan. 26, 2001: "The Phantom Baron (Le Baron Fantome)," France, 1943, 100 minutes. Directed by Serge de Poligny. Written by Cocteau and Serge de Poligny. In French with English subtitles. Cocteau wrote the dialogue and starred in the title role of this Gothic tale about the mysterious disappearance of a nobleman.
Post-Gazette Movie Editor Ron Weiskind contributed to this report.
