Orpheus

Saw Orpheus, a French film from the 50s. It opens with a recitation of the myth of Orpheus (he was a poet whose wife died. He went to the underworld and got her back on the condition that he not look at her. He looks.) We then jump to modern times, where a poet named Orpheus is feeling intimidated by an up-and-coming new poet. This poet is knocked down in the streets and is whisked away by a woman in black who is clearly death. (At this point I had hopes for a gay version of the story but alas Orpheus's female wife is introduced soon after and any homoeroticism remains subliminal from then on.) The sequences in the underworld are very fun. They evoke the lo-fi special effects of Michel Gondry. Backwards-spooled footage and rear-projections are used to wonderful effect. Low-budget films would be wise to rediscover these techniques.

The story is interesting. I was at first disappointed because as soon as people are named, their role becomes fixed. We discover that Orpheus's wife's friend runs the Bacchae Nightclub and we know they're going to be trouble. Luckily (and I have to tread very close to spoilers here) the film's plot keeps us guessing. For example, when Orpheus finally looks at his wife, it is because she is sick of the eternal game of hide-and-seek and wants to die. There's also a surreal mixing of reality with the supernatural. At one point the poet is chasing after death but is frustrated by autograph-seekers. The boundary between what is real and unreal is not always kept perfectly straight. There's also oblique reference to an extended mythos. Death, we hear, must obey laws of her own.

An interesting movie. It feels very fresh, despite being a retelling of a very old story. As strong as the story is, I think the visuals are yet stronger. The old-timey effects are just great. The mood of the film is kind of removed and observational, unfortunately. I think it's much more fun when I can get a nice sense of mood and place off of a film. This one is too overwhelming and alien to really be relatable but, all the same, it's quite good as a sort of sensory kaleidescope.

Edit: according to imdb, the male director had been dating both Orpheus and the up-n-coming new poet, so maybe the homoeroticism wasn't entirely in my own head.