The Making of Orpheus - Diego Flores
“Orpheus” is a film directed by Jean Cocteau starring Jean Marais. This was a huge deal because Jean Cocteau was an open gay man the time the film came out. He cast his boyfriend, Jean Marais, because he thought we would like seeing his face just as much as Cocteau enjoyed it. I can only imagine that this was a huge step for the queer community at that time because now they have someone to look up to in the film industry. This film came out during a time where there weren’t really many open gay actors, directors, or even characters in film. The queers were thought of as a joke or something you should be afraid of. Then all of a sudden you see you see this open gay director who casted his boyfriend, an open gay actor, for the main role of a film. This was huge because it gave the queer community hope. Instead of being made as a joke. It also wasn’t just the film “Orpheus” but Jean Cocteau made many other films that had Jean Marais as the main character. This gave queers a positive role model and now they finally had some good representation in the real world.
_medium.jpg)
The article mentioned that Jean Cocteau used to watch his mother get dressed as a kid in front of the mirror. He was fascinated at the idea of costuming and the different looks she could have. I wonder if he used the mirror shot and the gloves because it made him think of his mother. At the age of 10, Jean Cocteau father committed suicide. For a while it was just Cocteau and his mother growing up. Jean Cocteau father suicide could also be a reason why he is in the film business. As a young kid he entered a dreamlike state of life in order to reject any sadness or negativity going on in the world. He tried to blur it out so he probably had more courage to come out as gay than most people at that time. I say this since he always tried to deny any negativity so he could’ve completely blocked all the hate queers were getting at that time. Instead of seeing the negatives he could be looking at the positives. Overall, this film made be very interested. I usually don’t a lot of films that are in a different language but this one really stood out to me.
Diego,
ReplyDeleteI found your post to be very informative. I think knowing the background of the director is an important piece to understanding a film, especially a film in 50s with underlying themes. I can't imagine how difficult it probably was to be an openly gay man and director back then. I wonder how this connects directly to the story? Did he as a director purposely add to the themes of Orpheus in relation to being gay?
Hey Diego!
ReplyDeleteYour post is so interesting to read. It really delivers some sharp context that helps paint a larger picture for the movie. "He cast his boyfriend, Jean Marais, because he thought we would like seeing his face just as much as Cocteau enjoyed it... Jean Cocteau made many other films that had Jean Marais as the main character." This little section of you post really warms my heart. It makes the movie that much more enjoyable knowing that there was such genuine sweetness in its creation. Like Emily said, I can't imagine what it must have been like for him and Jean Marias.
Diego,
ReplyDeleteI think it's so cool how you tied together the history of the film, the actors, and the director into your post! I found it to be informative and useful in understanding the film as a whole. I like how you connected a specific scene from the film to Cocteau's real life.
Follow up post: After reading some post about the movie I saw so many scenes in a different way. May people brought up things that I’ve never thought about so it left me wondering a couple of thing. For example, John mentioned that during the scene where Orpheus and his wife couldn’t look at each other in the eyes can be a representation of how queers felt back in that time. I found this to be interesting because Jean Cocteau probably knew what it was like to be looked at differently as an open gay man. He probably included this, if it was intentional, because it’s probably something he had to go through in the past with someone he loved. Instead of looking at him with love and admiration, he probably couldn’t since he would be judged. Emily also stated that she thought this was going to be a movie about mythology and I completely agree with that. This got me wondering how different the film would’ve been if it was more like a mythology movie. Would he still have the same message or would it be something different? Would there even be any subtle hints to queer characters?
ReplyDelete