:
Lee Miller,
Lee Miller,
Pauline Carton,
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:
Jean Cocteau,
Jean Cocteau
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: Criterion
: Classics, Foreign, France, Experimental/Avant-Garde, Criterion Collection
: 50 min.
: French
: English
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In the first of this film's four episodes, a tall smokestack starts to collapse. Then the scene shifts to a young poet who is sketching faces. He sees that a sketch's mouth is moving and wipes it off with his hand; the mouth attaches itself to his palm. Eventually he transfers the mouth to a statue in his room. In the second episode, the statue tells the poet to enter a mirror. He falls into the darkness of the mirror's interior and finds himself at the Hotel de Folies-Dramatiques. The poet crawls along the hallway and peers into the keyholes, where he sees various bizarre situations. He reaches the end of the hallway, someone hands him a gun, and he shoots himself. The poet returns to his room and smashes the statue; then he becomes a statue himself in a courtyard. In the third episode, a group of boys engage in a snowfight in the courtyard. The statue is destroyed and one boy is left bloody and possibly dead after being hit with a snowball. In the final episode, the courtyard is revealed to be a stage on which a young woman and the poet play cards next to the boy's body, which is still lying on the ground. The woman tells the poet that he is lost without the Ace; he takes the card from the boy's jacket. The boy's guardian angel appears and covers him. He takes the Ace from the poet and leaves; the poet shoots himself in the head and the audience applauds. The woman walks away and it is revealed that she is the statue; then the film ends with the final collapse of the tall smokestack. ~ Todd Kristel, All Movie Guide
THE BLOOD OF A POET is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.33:1. This new digital transfer was created from the 35mm intermediate negative, made from the original camera negative. The digitally restored sound was mastered from a 35mm optical soundtrack negative. The sound was also carefully restored, using digital tools to remove such audio imperfections as film pops, clicks, hums, crackle, and hiss. Telecine supervisor: Maria Palazzola; Telecine colorist: Jean-Marc Moreau/Vdm, Paris; Audio restoration: Michael W. Wiese, Heather Shaw.
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| Interesting for Context
by gjgrella
March 15, 2006 - 1:10 PM PST
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1 out of 1 members found this review helpful
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| Blood of a Poet gives a fascinating context for Cocteau's film ideas, which he later incorporated into the magnificent movies Beauty and the Beast and Orpheus. This one is very much of its time in the playfulness with which it uses the tricks of the camera and imagination of the film maker. It is diverting to watch but not the type of coherent, artistic statement the other Cocteau movies provide. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 7.21)
87 Votes
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LHarrell
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© 2006 All Media Guide, LLC. Portions of content provided by All Movie Guide®,
a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.