Even though Orpheus was at times difficult to grasp, I found it held its suspension of disbelief. The first time we see Death go through the mirror, common constructs of reality would tell us that this is not possible. Orphée’s disbelief and shock in viewing this phenomenon reassures us of this, which is reinforced by the image of his face pressed against the mirror, unpermitted to enter the portal, at first. We see some sort of pain on Orphée’s face; his hold on reality slackens and he enters into the other world through the mirrored portal.
The image of Orphée lying in a puddle of his reflection symbolized the major message I took from this film; poets break their egos to create meaningful art but ultimately can come back to living in the regular constraints of reality. I saw Orphée’s reflection as being the part of him remaining on the other side of the mirror where he was a failing poet, married to a typical housewife, and being overshadowed by up in coming artists; the part of him who didn’t know Death. His physical body represented desire, curiosity, the longing to slip through the mirror to follow Death. Putting the two images together shows a broken ego, a willingness to question what Orphée considered to be true in order to transcend the boundaries he is contained by.
The person’s poetry most revered in the film is Cégeste, who in the beginning of the film, seemed to live closely with Death and therefore closest to presenting another side of reality unseen by others in his work. It is when he losses is ego completely, seduced and taken by Death, is when Orphée become fixated with Cégeste’s transmitted words. For Orphee he needed the separation from Cegeste and his ego in order to consider his poetry valuable.
I can definitely see parallels in the roles played as being a poet and being homosexual in contemporary society. Both have to be constantly on watch for signs, interpreting everything around them which leads to great scrutiny of their character. Both may be seduced by Death, allure offering another side of reality. I didn’t see many references in the film that were obviously nodding to a gay sub text but I definitely see how it could be another message of the film. The one thing that did stand out to me happened in the beginning of the film when Orphée is at the café talking to a man about Cegeste. The camera goes into a very tight close up, the man’s lips practically in Orphée’s ear, whispering about whether or not Cégeste is one of them or not. It seemed like the men were sizing up this poet, checking him out more so then discussing his work.
Wow! I really love your interpretation on the image of Orphée lying in a puddle. How poets break their egos to create meaningful art but ultimately can come back to living in the regular constraints of reality. I find this thought to be true because in the reality of the mirror, Orpheus's life is failing, both as a poet and a husband. Beyond the mirror's reflection is a world Orpheus wishes to transcend into. Through the underworld, Orphee recieves beautiful poetry transmitted through the radio in which he takes and calls his own. A world were his art can flourish and he can be with his death. Until he goes through the mirror into the underworld, Orphee must simply stare back at his reflection of reality.
ReplyDeleteI was reading through my blog and I feel that you do an awesome job on interpreting difficult concepts. Can you maybe comment on my blog about the term masochism we learned about in class in relation to the movie? I feel like you could help me understand it a little better.
ReplyDeleteWow this was really interesting. You made a lot of good points and parallels that I never even thought of. I never even thought about Orpheus when he was in the puddle and found that so interesting. I liked how your compared the two sides of his life through that puddle. I never even realized exactly how much of a mess his life really was until you laid it out. Also, I found it interesting what you said about in the beginning with the possible homosexual reference. This was something that I also never thought of but is interesting to think about.
ReplyDeleteI felt this was a movie where it was more difficult to find the symbolism in certain scenes but I really like the concepts that you pulled out of them. The first one you described especially. I knew there was some deeper way to look at that scene with the mirror but I just couldn't find a better way to look at it but your interpretation fits the situation perfectly.
ReplyDeleteOn the idea of the parallels between being a poet or homosexual, it almost makes it easier to find the message if you make the ideas interchangeable. Such as where Orphée constantly ignores his wife for the poetry, it seems like poetry(homosexuality) is what is keeping him from loving his wife.
I agree with Jules, you make so many great points that I never even though of! Wow. I agree totally with the point you made that Orphee wouldn't give Cegeste's poetry a chance he is as low as it gets in the film. Even then he didn't know whose words were being transmitted. He become totally fixated on Cegeste's words, which were his closest link to Death at that time.
ReplyDeleteChair Guy- I like your idea of making the terms poet and homosexual interchangeable in order to understand where the idea sits in the movie. Thanks, I was having trouble fitting that into it.
>>poets break their egos to create meaningful art but ultimately can come back to living in the regular constraints of reality.
ReplyDeleteThis is really, really good. And I agree with what's been said, you do an excellent job of clarifying and synthesizing, and in a very short space, a lot of the complexities of the movie, reading and discussion.
Sarah, masochism in this instance is a similar sort of surrender of the ego as Anne rightly says that Cocteau attributes to poets here. Extreme pain, or the mingling of pain and pleasure, means a surrendering of the will to a greater force. It makes a little more sense metaphorically than literally.
As others in this discussion group have said though, Orpheus really doesn't seem the best example of somebody surrendering his ego or will--well not his ego anyway. I wonder where somebody like Heurtibese fits in this construction--the one character who seems genuinely without ego, and genuinely serving of others and self-sacrificing.