Le Testament d’Orphée : film
With *Le Testament d’Orphée*, Jean Cocteau published in 1961 the literary and visual counterpart to the film he conceived as his cinematic testament. The poet places himself at the centre of a dreamlike world where memories, mythological figures and characters from his own oeuvre encounter one another. The book reflects the exceptional unity of literature, visual art and cinema that defines Cocteau’s work. Lucien Clergue’s photographs reinforce its character as a tangible extension of the film. This first edition on ordinary paper is distinguished by a warm presentation inscription from Cocteau to ‘l’ami Malle’. The cinematic context and close overlap of professional circles make Louis Malle the very probable recipient. The copy thus creates a compelling association between two highly individual voices in French cinema at the beginning of the 1960s.
Quantity
Cocteau, Jean
Lucien Clergue
Le Testament d’Orphée : film
1961 | Monaco | Éditions du Rocher
An important late first edition in which Cocteau brings poetry, mythology and cinema together in a deliberate artistic testament. The inscription very probably addressed to Louis Malle also gives this copy exceptional association value within the history of French cinema.
With *Le Testament d’Orphée*, Jean Cocteau published in 1961 the literary and visual counterpart to the film he conceived as his cinematic testament. The poet places himself at the centre of a dreamlike world where memories, mythological figures and characters from his own oeuvre encounter one another. The book reflects the exceptional unity of literature, visual art and cinema that defines Cocteau’s work. Lucien Clergue’s photographs reinforce its character as a tangible extension of the film. This first edition on ordinary paper is distinguished by a warm presentation inscription from Cocteau to ‘l’ami Malle’. The cinematic context and close overlap of professional circles make Louis Malle the very probable recipient. The copy thus creates a compelling association between two highly individual voices in French cinema at the beginning of the 1960s.
€950
Condition Report:
In-Depth Study
References & Bibliography
Format
In-8 (Octavo) approx. 20 × 26 cm
Edition Particulars
Copy of the first edition on ordinary paper, with a signed presentation inscription ‘à l’ami Malle, de tout cœur, Jean Cocteau’, very probably addressed to filmmaker Louis Malle.
Paper
papier courant
Inscription
Association Copy
Product DETAIL
The work presents Cocteau himself as the poet, moving through a world in which time, reality and imagination continually merge. Characters from his earlier films and from the myth of Orpheus reappear and confront him with his own creations. The poet is judged by the Princess and Heurtebise before continuing his journey through a symbolic intermediate realm. Encounters with mythological figures, artists and apparitions from his personal universe turn the narrative into a retrospective of an entire creative life. Death appears not as a definitive ending but as a boundary the poet repeatedly crosses. The whole functions simultaneously as self-portrait, artistic credo and farewell. *Le Testament d’Orphée* therefore forms a synthesis of the principal mythological and autobiographical motifs of Cocteau’s work.
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