Orpheus, 1950
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the fact that the 1950s blessed us with two different, awesome takes on the Orpheus myth?
In this version of the story Orpheus is a nationally renowned poet living with his pregnant wife, Euridyce. One day he witnesses the killing of a young man--another poet--and is whisked into a car by a mysterious woman who he later discovers is Death. Obsessed with the mysterious woman, her car (through which the dead poet transmits powerful verses), Orpheus fails to realize that Death's interest in him has put Euridyce in danger.
Easily the best thing about this film is the use of visual effects and the mood generated by the visual and audio design. This is hardly a shock considering it's Cocteau behind the camera. The film utilizes many tricks: slow motion, reverse motion, deceptive angles, layered imagery, and more. The sense of the unnatural intruding into real life is powerful and unnerving, such as when a pair of gloves seem to put themselves on a man's hands, or when an unseen wind pushes against one man while not affecting another. The performances are also solid, especially Maria Casares as Death and Francois Perier as Heurtebise, her assistant who does not approve of the way that she meddles with the living.
I am a huge fan of
Black Orpheus and its terrifying portrayal of Death as a masked killer who stalks Euridyce through Carnaval. This film takes an entirely different approach, positing the tension in the story as a love, well, square. The four corners are Orpheus (who loves Death and Euridyce), Death (who loves Orpheus), Euridyce (who loves Orpheus), and Heurtebise (who loves Euridyce but also seems to have some borderline romantic feelings about Orpheus at certain moments). Both Death and Orpheus act out of selfishness, and the conflict in the film mostly stems from their choices and actions.
Something that is kind of bold in this interpretation of the myth is just how unsympathetic Orpheus is. The guy is, to put it bluntly, kind of a self-centered jerk. At one point, Heurtebise tells him that Euridyce (yes, his pregnant wife) is dying, and Orpheus, listening to the car radio, replies that it's a "trick" that she's pulling to get his attention. A strange element of the movie, to me, was how often Orpheus references Euridyce/women as being tricky or playing games or being manipulative. I'm not sure if this was done to illustrate him being self-centered, or if we were to actually believe that this is true of Euridyce. She is probably the least developed character, and it was a bit hard to get a read on her.
Overall I really enjoyed the way that the story was adapted. Small touches, like Death's motorcycle-riding violent henchmen were fun. But I also enjoyed larger changes, such as the "don't look at her" rule extending beyond their return from the underworld. There's a ridiculous, basically screwball sequence in the house when they return and Orpheus can't look at her but keeps almost looking at her. It seems a fitting punishment that in paying the price for ignoring his wife, he is now forbidden to look at her.
I do wish that Euridyce had been a little better developed as a character. For a lot of the film she's just nice and pretty and generally affable. She gets a bit more heft in the final act--especially in a sequence where she considers just dying so that she and Orpheus don't have to play the "don't look" game anymore. I also felt like the sequence in which the judges of the afterlife make their decisions needed a bit more elaboration. The judgement that Orpheus can't look at Euridyce feels kind of arbitrary, and I would have liked more explanation. But these are pretty minor quibbles, and didn't majorly impact my enjoyment of the film.
Big thumbs up from me, and about tied with
Black Orpheus in terms of a great adaptation of the story.