Orpheus to me was one of those movies where at the end I just kind of sat back and was like, what the hell just happened. I had heard the story of Orpheus before, but only briefly in another class. However, I found it interesting and liked learning more about it before we watched the movie. It seemed to me that the story we talked about in class and the one we actually watched in the movie were only slightly related. I found a lot of differences and wasn't sure what to think about them.
From what I got from the story Orpheus is madly in love with his wife, which is not really what I got out of the movie. She seemed to almost fling herself at him while for the most part, he was rude and ignored her half the time. From the story, it seems that Orpheus would do anything for his wife and is in love with her and only her. However, I then got confused when he was in love with Death too. It irritated me that he was telling Death he loved her when he was supposed to be so in love with his wife. Also, there were times when he was working in the car and she would try to come help him and all he would do is blow her off or yell at her. He seemed very self centered too, like when the driver tried to tell him his wife was in danger and he just blew it off like nothing. Also, what was with them sleeping in two seperate beds? If there was a deeper meaning to this I definitly did not understand it.
However, with the many camera tricks in the movie it made it very interesting. I liked how they used the mirror as the like portal to the other world. I also liked the gloves just flying on Opheus's hands, and the driver like gliding in the other world. I thought the other world was interesting (and sort of creepy) how it reflected the devistation from WWII. It seemed like every shot had something that was run down or falling apart. I also noticed how when they took you to the underworld everything was darker, with a much more sad mood. However, when your in with the living everything was very bright and had a much more upbeat tone for the most part.
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I must say I agree with you on Orpheus being self-centered and your confusion on his not so "perfect marriage." I also found the contrast between the underworld and reality to be really great at showing us, the viewer,which world we are in. Did you find any symbolizism or deeper meaning in the movie from watching it?
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ReplyDeleteWhen I left class after viewing I had a similar moment when I was like, "what am I going to blog about?" You're right there are a lot of interesting images and camera tricks as well as the great contrast between the two worlds which can all seem overwhelming in interpreting the film. Trying to fit the film Orpheus into the myth may be somewhat tricky seeing as many changes were made in the film that didn't necessarily follow the conventions of the myth. What do you think it means that Orpheus is not so deeply in love with his wife? Maybe focusing on the differences between the film and myth will help create a better understanding of what Cocteau was trying to convey.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that the film was so far from the the myth. About Orpheus distancing himself from his wife, when Orpheus' wife was frantically worried about her husband when he was missing, she was assured that she shouldn't have anything to worry about because their marriage was perfect. So I think we can assume Orpheus would have done anything for his wife prior to the start point of the film. The confusion starts when he meets Death and is infatuated with her. The beds threw me off too, but maybe it was to exemplify their distancing from each other? Because in the last scene with Orpheus and his wife Orpheus layed down with her in the same bed. But then the beds must have been pushed apart before then.
ReplyDeleteThis entry has me wanting to know the same thing as your peers--given everything you have so carefully observed, and all the changes from the original story you mention, what do you think this movie is ultimately about? I completely agree that the whole marriage thing was unconvincing, and that the real emotional action was in Death's realm. But why, do you think? Also, how would you bring the reading into your discussion, or Cocteau's own statement at the beginning that what his movie was really about was poetry? You raise some really good questions--fun to see how you'd go about answering them.
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