My Own Perception:
I thought this movie was interesting. One of the things that intrigued me was the way that Post WWII Europe was used to show the "other world" or underworld. When Orpheus traveled into the other world, the architecture was all crumbling and whatnot. I thought that was a great depiction of a world that isn't completely destroyed but also isn't completely there. It represents that sort of purgatory where fate is still being decided upon for the characters.
I also was freaked out when Lady Death all of the sudden admits that she loves Orpheus and he is madly in love with her. I was not expecting that at all. It did seem to me that it was an almost sort of narcissism where he is so in love with himself that he even loves his own death.
I also couldn't stand the way that he treated his wife. It was clear as soon as she was introduced that they didn't have that good of a marriage and that he didn't love her, or at least love her like he should (as her husband). I think he was falling out of love for a while with his wife, and as soon as Lady Death got involved it sealed the deal.
Class Discussion:
When they get to that other world for the first time, and there is a tribunal of men who decide judgment for Lady Death and Orpheus, and for his wife and Heurtebise, I found the correlation interesting between that and the tribunals shortly after WWII. There are old men who have to judge everything that has been going on and decide the fate for people.
The whole mirrors as portals was a pretty cool idea, i hadn't really thought too much about that. I did have one question, though: I think that when Lady Death is first introduced to the story, she is sitting at a mirror and it shatters as she is looking into it. Does anybody know what that represents? I couldn't figure it out. Maybe she is breaking the rules so the portals don't want to let her travel between worlds?
The Reading:
I got really confused on the reading, especially the large blocks in French.
One idea mentioned in class was the relationship between homosexual sensibility and poetic sensibility. In the article it says "...Cocteau's universe where special beings, i.e. poets, are endowed with a sensibility that allows them to see what's hidden to others." It mentions how he is able to penetrate the hidden worlds. Maybe Orpheus is able to travel between worlds because he is a special poet, and ordinary people aren't able to do that.
The article also says that "danger comes from poetry", and in class in was mentioned how being a poet is dangerous. It brings you close to death and craziness. I think that shows why Orpheus can deal with the other world, can deal with death. He freaked out on his wife and seemed a little crazy. He, because he was being selfish, let his wife die because he was listening to Cigeste's poetry. Lots of things connect him to death and poetry.
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I had the biggest problem with Oprhee's character. He was such a tool! I also agree that he was incredibly rude to his wife. I also agree on how interesting the portrayal of the Underworld was. You brought up a really good point about Orphee being so in love with himself that he is in love with his death and I never thought of that. I knew there was a reason that I hated him so.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the whole glass shattering introduction, perhaps it is some sort of foreshadowing. Because now we know what happens in the end to Death and Heurtebise. Maybe it was an indication of Death's character experiencing change in the form of falling in love (With Orphee, I don't know why) and the glass breaking represents her falling from, for lack of a better term, "grace" in terms of her position in the Underworld. I could be wrong, just thought I would throw that out there.
Foreshadowing is a great explanation!
ReplyDeleteI forgot about that weird mirror breaking thing, and its interesting to think about it hindsight now that the whole mirrors as portals is obvious.
ReplyDeleteSooooo,the best explanation i could come up with would be maybe that they are how her bosses keep tabs on her. The tribunal seems to make a big deal about how Deaths act in the mortal realm, and even tell Hertebise (?spelling??) that they'll be watching him or something after the trial. SO, by smashing the mirror its sort of like a bif ef you to her bosses and made it so they couldnt watch whatever she was about to be doing.
I really loved your comparison of hell/ or the other world to a sort of purgatory. I totally agree that the crumbling city was the perfect setting for this film. Post WWII was a sort of purgatory like situation as we all know for the people that were left behind after the tragic bombings of the war. The world as people knew it prior to the war were completely turned upside down. The world that these characters are in is very similar. Once death arrives the lives of the characters never go back to the way that they were before. It's forever changed and molded in to a new lifestyle and new circumstances that they have to work around.
ReplyDeleteI was also like ....what?? When death and Orphee professed their love to each other and kissed. It seemed so out of place and unexpected. I like how you wrote "he is so in love with himself, he also loves his own death" that does help put it in to perspective better.
I do agree about the comments made about Orpheus. Because of his "National Hero" status, he was self-absorbed,and treated his wife horribly. However, could be argued that Orpheus was struggling with the meaning of his own existence? Think about it. Orpheus and his poetry was not the center of people's lives anymore. He was having an ordinary, conventional marriage with Eurydice. Orpheus struggled with the meaning of his existence and fell "in love" with Death, symbolizing that Death was the only way to go in leaving a life that was meaningless.
ReplyDelete>>I thought that was a great depiction of a world that isn't completely destroyed but also isn't completely there.
ReplyDeleteThis is just an awesome sentence. There is so much you can do with this thought, which I think hits at the heart of what Cocteau is going for here. And also, yay again with the connection between love of death and narcissism, though I wish somebody would spell out that connection more clearly. I intuit that it's accurate, but I can't exactly see why. How can a guy convinced of his own awesomeness be in love with something that represents an end to his awesomeness? Unless....his awesomeness even conquers...Death!!! Oh. Right. That's pretty much the myth of Orpheus in a nutshell.
Really good post, and really good discussion.