“The Blood of a Poet” is Jean Cocteau’s first film that he wrote and directed. It’s also his most surreal film and definitely not his most accessible film but for those who want to learn more about Cocteau’s work will be happy to know that this DVD also contains a fantastic documentary on Jean Cocteau, his life and his work!
Image courtesy of © 1930 Canal+Image International © 2000 All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: The Blood of a Poet – The Criterion Collection #67 (as part of the “Jean Cocteau’s Orphic Trilogy” DVD Box Set)
DURATION: 50 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Black and White, 1:33:1 Aspect Ratio, Monaural, In French with Optional English Subtitles,
COMPANY:Â Canal+Image International/Janus Films/The Criterion Collection
RELEASED: 2000
Written and Directed by Jean Cocteau
Produced by Le Vicomte de Noailles
Music by Georges Auric
Edited by Jean Cocteau
Art Direction by Jean Gabriel D’Aubonne, Jeane d’Eaubonne
Costume Design by Coco Chanel
Starring:
Enrique Rivero as Poet
Elizabeth Lee Miller as Statue
Jean Desbordes as Louis XV Friend
Feral Benga as Black Angel
“Poets . . . shed not only the red blood of their hearts but the white blood of their souls,†proclaimed Jean Cocteau of his groundbreaking first film—an exploration of the plight of the artist, the power of metaphor and the relationship between art and dreams. One of cinema’s great experiments, this first installment of the Orphic Trilogy stretches the medium to its limits in an effort to capture the poet’s obsession with the struggle between the forces of life and death. Criterion is proud to present The Blood of a Poet (Le sang d’un poète).
Before Jean Cocteau’s masterpiece “La belle et la bete” (1946, aka “Beauty and the Beast”), the French poet began work on a surreal, avant-garde film in 1930 titled “Le Sang d’un Poete” (The Blood of a Poet). The film would star Enrique Rivero and also famed photographer Elizabeth “Lee” Miler.
The film would be hard to describe but the best word for it would be “Surreal” and reviews for the film have typically been mixed because critics and viewers alike did not know what to make of this film. What is the meaning of the title? What is the meaning of the film?
“The Blood of a Poet” is a film broken down into four parts.  The first part features an artist who sketches a face but all of a sudden, the mouth becomes real. He tries to erase it with his hands by wiping it but instead, the hand automatically switches positions and now is in his palm.   He then transfers the mouth to a female statue.
The second part features the statue trying to convince the artist to jump into a mirror. When the artist goes through it, he sees keyholes in which he sees a hermaphrodite, an opium smoker and all of a sudden a voice is telling him to shoot himself in the head.
The third part features boys having as snowball fight which results in a young boy’s death.
The fourth part features a card game in which a table is set on top of the dead boy’s body. A card shark plays against a woman and not long after, we see a man commit suicide to the satisfaction of a party of people watching.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“The Blood of a Poet” is presented in black and white (1:33:1 aspect ratio). According to Criterion, “The Blood of a Poet” was created from a 35mm intermediate positive and made from the original camera negative.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“The Blood of a Poet” is presented in monaural in French (the film is silent with Cocteau speaking) and optional English subtitles. As for the audio, the audio was mastered from a 35mm optical soundtrack negative. The sound was carefully restored, using digital tools to minimize audio artifacts, film pops, clicks, hums, crackle and hiss.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The Blood of a Poet – THE CRITERION COLLECTION #67” comes with the following special features:
- A Collection of Rare Behind-the-Scenes Photos – Using your remote, you can view behind-the-scenes photos of the making of the film.
- Edgardo Cozarinsky’s “Jean Cocteau: Autoportrait d’un Inconnu (Autobigraphy of an Unknown) – (1:06:42) The longest feature of this entire DVD is the 1984 documentary about Jean Cocteau. For those interested in knowing more about the filmmaker/poet, this documentary is very informative as Cocteau talks about his childhood, his artistic contemporaries and more.
- Transcript of Cocteau’s lecture giving at a 1932 screening of “Blood of the Poet” – An interesting text transcript (onscreen) with Cocteau giving a lecture to students.
- Insert – One one side (three panels) features a 1946 essay to “Blood of a Poet” by Jean Cocteau (the other side is the production credits).
“The Blood of a Poet” has been called a surrealist film. It’s imagery is quite interesting, some are though provoking but according to Cocteau, surrealism did not exist when he first thought of the film.
One can call this a fantasy film. If made in the ’60’s, one can easily say that Cocteau was on some major trip and easily one can think that the director was on something narcotic while creating this film. But in this case, Cocteau was creating a film in which I would like to believe as for the cinema fans who can take a film that may seem as incoherent and make it coherent.
Was it Cocteau’s way of creating a film that would mock politics or religion?
What we do know is that the film was produced by the Viscount and Viscountess of Noailles, the Prince and Princess of Faucigny-Lucinge, and Lady Abde who were all dismayed when they found out how Cocteau was using their scene in the film (they played the theater group who was cheering but they realized after they saw the film that the cheering portion was towards a man’s suicide which angered them and thus the scene was reshot). We also know that Cocteau used friends in the film. From photographer Lee Miller, actor Enrique Rivero, jazz dancer Feral Benga and assistant stagehands.
But the question many will have is what is the plot about? I think that is why this film has been used in film studies because a professor would probably want to see what each student got out of it. Cocteau claims that he wasn’t thinking of anything when he created the film and thus expects the viewer to come up with their own interpretation of the film.
Fortunately, this film comes with two of Cocteau’s other prominent works “Orpheus” and “Testament of Orpheus” in his Orphic Trilogy DVD box set from The Criterion Collection. But for this DVD release, what I was very pleased with was the inclusion of the hour long 1984 documentary “Cocteau: Autoportrait d’un Inconnu” (Autobiography of an Unknown). This is definitely another reason of why one who enjoys Cocteau’s films would want this DVD.
Just learning about Cocteau, his mindset and his approach to filmmaking is just a joy to watch and very pleased that the Criterion Collection included this documentary on the DVD.
If anything, I found “The Blood of a Poet” to be so avant-garde and daring, exhausting, innovative, creepy and I admit, I had a variety of emotions towards this film. After enjoying “Beauty and the Beast”, I wanted to see Cocteau’s first film, even if he had no experience as a filmmaker at this time, I wanted to see what the poet and intellect would create. I was quite aware of how critics felt about this film but I enjoy director’s who don’t pander to the masses and create whatever is on their mind and in their soul.
Personally, this is not a film that one can easily write about and describe, it’s more of that feeling when you go to a museum and you see a piece of art and you look at it for a long, long time and each time you feel that you know it but then your mind races to come up with another feeling towards it. Show it to different people and some will feel intrigued, some who may feel satisfied, some may feel bored and even disappointed. This is what I think Jean Cocteau was able to create. A film that may not be so accessible to the masses but a work of art that depends on your own interpretation.
Overall, I look at “The Blood of a Poet” as Cocteau’s way of entertaining himself by the viewer’s reaction after watching it. By seeing how people view this art film as they would have viewed a painting, a sculpture or poetry and in this case, I would like to think that the reactions to his film would be nothing but pure amusement for Cocteau.  Whether it would be good or bad, coherent or incoherent… these are genuine feelings about one’s work of art.
I can’t help but smile. Because if that was Cocteau’s intention, then the filmmaker ultimately succeeded.