Sang d'un poète, Le (1930)

Director:

Jean Cocteau

Writer:

Jean Cocteau (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Alternative Reality | Portal | Surreal | Audience | Artist

Cast

Enrique Rivero	...	Poet
Elizabeth Lee Miller	...	Statue
Pauline Carton
Odette Talazac
Jean Desbordes	...	Louis XV Friend
Fernand Dichamps
Lucien Jager
Féral Benga	...	Black Angel
Barbette
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jean Cocteau	...	Bit Part (uncredited)

Directed by
Jean Cocteau

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jean Cocteau		writer

Produced by
Le Vicomte de Noailles	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Georges Auric

Cinematography by
Georges Périnal

Film Editing by
Jean Cocteau

Art Direction by
Jean Gabriel D'Aubonne
Jean d'Eaubonne

Costume Design by
Coco Chanel

Production Companies

• Vicomte de Noailles

Distributors

• Edward T. Ricci (1933) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Grapevine Video (1990) (USA) (video)
• Home Vision Cinema (1990) (USA) (VHS)
• Continental Home Vídeo (1995) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Continental Home Vídeo (1995) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (1995) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Criterion Collection, The (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) (2000) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

The Blood of a Poet (USA)

Runtime:

USA:55 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Company:

Vicomte de Noailles

Trivia:

Because of the October 1930 scandal around Luis Buñuel's Âge d'or, L' (1930) - another film financed by Le Vicomte de Noailles and Marie-Laure de Noailles, the Paris premiere of this film was delayed until January 1932.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Claude Jutra, portrait sur film (2002)

One of the better films of the original Surrealist movement

_Le sang d'un poète_ is a semi-narrative film replete with surreal imagery. Like much of Cocteau's work, it displays an affinity for classicism that seems anomalous in a Surrealist context. It's still a great film.

Cocteau's world is one of magic, talismans, and journeys through the looking glass (literally), populated by creatures both strangely compelling and vaguely demonic. Though the film follows a central character through a sequence of events, it can't really be described as a story, because there is no rational justification for anything that happens (hey, it's Surrealism - what were you expecting?).

Despite the primitive film technology, there is some downright eerie cinematography in this movie, especially in the hotel-room scenes.

I much prefer this film to Cocteau's _Orphee_, which has more to do with _The Twilight Zone_ than with Surrealism proper.