Translated by Robin Buss

‘Extremely discriminating, witty and astute’ The Times

For more than 30 years, Jean Cocteau maintained a passionate affair with the moving image. To him, film was a visionary dream-like medium, a glimpse of the phantoms that haunted the poet throughout his life. This posthumous collection of writings illuminates Cocteau’s work for the cinema, with detailed discussions of his aims, responses to criticism and his reflections on the relationship between poetry, theatre and film. He also comments on the movie stars he admires – Marlene Dietrich, James Dean, Brigitte Bardot – together with such great directors as Georges Franju,Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles.

Born in France in 1889, Jean Cocteau was a visionary poet, filmmaker and artist. His films include the avant-garde masterpiece The Blood of the Poet and his later meditation on art and mortality, The Testament of Orpheus, both published by Marion Boyars as Two Screenplays. He died in 1963.

'Above all, Cocteau loyally represents what cinema might be'
London Review of Book

Price: £9.95
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0-7145-2974-5
Cinema