ORPHÉE
I saw this 1950 Jean Cocteau film some 40-plus years ago, and it made a huge impact on me, so much so that for all the time since it has sat somewhere in my list of Top Ten Faves. Therefore it was with some trepidation that I rewatched this modern retelling of the Greek legend, given how likely it was that I would be a disappointed. Besides Orpheus, who is now a feted poet who may be past his best, and Eurydice, his wife, there are two other main characters. These are an elegant and forbidding woman, referred to as the Princess, and her chauffeur Heurtebise. In the very first scene, at the Café des Poètes, a young poet is knocked down by a couple of sinister motorcyclists. Once his body is placed in her Rolls-Royce the Princess orders Orpheus to come with them, presumably to the hospital. However things immediately get weird. The young poet is dead, but instead of going to the hospital the car heads into the country, accompanied by t...