Jean Cocteau: The Orphic Trilogy

San Francisco MOMA will screen "Blood of a Poet", "Orpheus" and "The Testament of Orpheus", July 5-26

Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) was a poet, filmmaker, artist, journalist, dramatist, and designer, as well as a celebrity and provocateur. He was a creative force at the center of the Parisian avant-garde from before World War I, through the surrealist 1920s and 30s, and beyond. His films exemplify the surrealist movement in France. They are dizzy with fantasy, mythology, melodrama, and unhinged experimentation. The Orphic Trilogy offers three films inspired by the figure of Orpheus, the poet and musician of ancient mythology. For today’s viewers, the trilogy opens doors to Cocteau’s incomparable poetic consciousness.

Le San d’un poète / Blood of a Poet (1930): Saturdays July 5, 12 and 19, 1:00pm

Orphée / Orpheus (1949): Saturdays July 5 and 12 at 2:30pm, July 26 at 1:00pm; and Thursday, July 10 at 7:00pm

Le Testament d’Orphée / The Testament of Orpheus (1959), Thursdays, July 17 and 24, 7:00pm; Saturdays July 19 at 2:30pm, and July 26 at 3:00pm

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Phyllis Wattis Theater, $5 general; free for SFMOMA members or with museum admission. Double features: films offered on the same date are included in one ticket.