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Poética del cine
Para ciertas almas, cada vez menos singulares, el cinematógrafo es un medio admirable para dar cuerpo a sus propios sueños, y lograr con ello que una gran cantidad de personas tomen parte de algo secreto, para sacar afuera la soledad y orquestarla. Por sueños no me refiero a lo que sucede cuando dormimos. Hablo de los espectáculos que toman vida en la noche del hombre, y que el cinematógrafo proyecta a plena luz. Así, la noche en las salas se asemeja a la del cuerpo humano y una multitud de individuos van juntos tras el mismo sueño.
- GenresFilmArtNonfiction
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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About the author
Jean Cocteau
575 books895 followersJean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager, playwright and filmmaker. Along with other Surrealists of his generation (Jean Anouilh and René Char for example) Cocteau grappled with the "algebra" of verbal codes old and new, mise en scène language and technologies of modernism to create a paradox: a classical avant-garde. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Colette, Édith Piaf, whom he cast in one of his one act plays entitled Le Bel Indifferent in 1940, and Raymond Radiguet.
His work was played out in the theatrical world of the Grands Theatres, the Boulevards and beyond during the Parisian epoque he both lived through and helped define and create. His versatile, unconventional approach and enormous output brought him international acclaim.
His work was played out in the theatrical world of the Grands Theatres, the Boulevards and beyond during the Parisian epoque he both lived through and helped define and create. His versatile, unconventional approach and enormous output brought him international acclaim.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 18, 2007
I read this book when I was 20 years old, not knowing what to expect. At that time, I had been a great admirer of Cocteau's Beauty and The Beast and considered it (still do) the most beautiful film ever made.
As a young film student at the time, I possessed a certain set of ideals as to how I felt cinema should be; what purposes it should serve, and what approaches to take in creating this greatest of all art forms. I had thought that the ideals I had were mine alone, because I couldn't find any of my classmates (whose only concerns were making it in Hollywood) that would share these "weird" ideals of mine.
To my surprise and delight, I found in this book that Cocteau had shared my ideals and defined cinema nearly the same I did. He also succeeded in expanding my thoughts on the possibilities of cinema as art. This book also gave me an incredible look into the brilliant mind of this creative and groundbreaking genius.
His films, this book and his other writings changed my life forever.
As a young film student at the time, I possessed a certain set of ideals as to how I felt cinema should be; what purposes it should serve, and what approaches to take in creating this greatest of all art forms. I had thought that the ideals I had were mine alone, because I couldn't find any of my classmates (whose only concerns were making it in Hollywood) that would share these "weird" ideals of mine.
To my surprise and delight, I found in this book that Cocteau had shared my ideals and defined cinema nearly the same I did. He also succeeded in expanding my thoughts on the possibilities of cinema as art. This book also gave me an incredible look into the brilliant mind of this creative and groundbreaking genius.
His films, this book and his other writings changed my life forever.
May 6, 2019
Jean Cocteau was a great poet, a writer of such monumental works as Les Enfants Terribles, and director of such beautiful achievements in cinema as La sang d'un poète, La Belle et la Bête and Orphée. He was not a prolific director, but the films he did make were pure cinematographic gold. He was an alchemist who could take the coarse materials of everyday life and transform them, with chance in his favor, into works of incomparable beauty.
This work in four parts is made up of fragments of Cocteau's writings on cinema as an art, a new art, a poetry written not with ink and paper, but with darkness and light. He lays out the difference between good cinematography and bad, often marked by chance versus intention, on independence versus following the formulas to which producers cling seeking a maximum return on investments.
In another section he muses on some of his favorite stars and directors -- Brigitte Bardot, James Dean, Charlie Chaplin, Robert Bresson, Orson Welles. He reflects on that something that makes great films stand out, among them Rossellini's Paisà and newer films like À bout de souffle and Les quatre cents coups. He doesn't disparage, though he clearly holds to higher esteem films that elevate the consciousness and show to us that something that can't be explained in film school, kissed by the young muse that is Cinema.
In addition to writing on cinema in general and marveling at what it is that makes Bardot glow (aside from her obvious sex appeal) and Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd clowns that make us laugh but also tragic figures in their own ways (beneath the slapstick), he also reflects on his own films, how they came about, what constraints he faced and how he overcame them.
Jean Cocteau was an artist whose career began with literature in the traditional sense, as a poet and novelist, working with the written word, whilst being dazzled by the magic of cinema made possible by the brothers Lumière, elevated to the heights of hypnosis by the great Georges Méliès, and later by the American clowns, Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy. As a young man starting out he discussed literature with Marcel Proust and made a name for himself in the literary world of Paris. But the Muse of Cinema was irresistible. She was young and beautiful, a debutante making her first appearance on the world stage, offering an alternative, novel medium to explore the themes that Cocteau, always (even as an old man) youthful at heart, was interested in as a poet.
It proved a read most enjoyable, more poetry than prose. And it has pushed me now to go back and rediscover the films and discover anew his written works (I've read so far only a few poems) starting with Les Enfants Terribles.
This work in four parts is made up of fragments of Cocteau's writings on cinema as an art, a new art, a poetry written not with ink and paper, but with darkness and light. He lays out the difference between good cinematography and bad, often marked by chance versus intention, on independence versus following the formulas to which producers cling seeking a maximum return on investments.
In another section he muses on some of his favorite stars and directors -- Brigitte Bardot, James Dean, Charlie Chaplin, Robert Bresson, Orson Welles. He reflects on that something that makes great films stand out, among them Rossellini's Paisà and newer films like À bout de souffle and Les quatre cents coups. He doesn't disparage, though he clearly holds to higher esteem films that elevate the consciousness and show to us that something that can't be explained in film school, kissed by the young muse that is Cinema.
In addition to writing on cinema in general and marveling at what it is that makes Bardot glow (aside from her obvious sex appeal) and Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd clowns that make us laugh but also tragic figures in their own ways (beneath the slapstick), he also reflects on his own films, how they came about, what constraints he faced and how he overcame them.
Jean Cocteau was an artist whose career began with literature in the traditional sense, as a poet and novelist, working with the written word, whilst being dazzled by the magic of cinema made possible by the brothers Lumière, elevated to the heights of hypnosis by the great Georges Méliès, and later by the American clowns, Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy. As a young man starting out he discussed literature with Marcel Proust and made a name for himself in the literary world of Paris. But the Muse of Cinema was irresistible. She was young and beautiful, a debutante making her first appearance on the world stage, offering an alternative, novel medium to explore the themes that Cocteau, always (even as an old man) youthful at heart, was interested in as a poet.
It proved a read most enjoyable, more poetry than prose. And it has pushed me now to go back and rediscover the films and discover anew his written works (I've read so far only a few poems) starting with Les Enfants Terribles.
February 1, 2020
charming, determined, w childlike idealism- advocated for poetry by accident, disobedience, anti-intellectualism, and young people. i didnt know most of the old movies and hollywood figures he wrote praises for but his prose alone was enough 2 engage me - sad to have finished
(also if ur curious as i was - cancer sun virgo moon taurus rising)
(also if ur curious as i was - cancer sun virgo moon taurus rising)
May 22, 2025
Cocteau is such a beautiful writer.
The flaws of this book are mainly due to the fact Cocteau never intended to make a book out of these disparate pieces, letters and notes. I particularly love that Cocteau advises to lean into the things about one's work that are seen as "mistakes."
The flaws of this book are mainly due to the fact Cocteau never intended to make a book out of these disparate pieces, letters and notes. I particularly love that Cocteau advises to lean into the things about one's work that are seen as "mistakes."
July 4, 2025
Interesting, of course. A glimpse into a mysterious mind, a mysterious process, a mysterious work, but a little bit repetitive -he says the same things over and over, but even then it is still really interesting and worth the read.
July 28, 2023
There are some really smart people who think that the films of Jean Cocteau – specifically those that he directed as well as wrote -- are not all that important within the history of cinema and are, at best, to be regarded as benign distractions. Sadly, I am not all that smart and, as such, doomed to believe that his work is essential cinema (particularly “The Blood of the Poet”).
Not everything in this book of selected writings (articles, letters, etc.) of Cocteau on film is inspired, but there is enough honest and humble insight into himself and his work to make it worthwhile to continue reading through to the end. Many of the films he writes about – particularly some of the ones that he wrote the screenplays for, but did not direct – are difficult to next to impossible for someone like me (lives in Mesa Arizona without a region-free DVD player and who does not speak French) to ever view. Similarly, some of the best of the “Unpublished Synopses” at the end of book are for films that -- as far as I can discern -- never actually made it to the screen. I particularly like the last one, “La Venus d’Ille”, where the protagonist “Georges, is a poet who has not written anything. He is a poet who is unaware of being one, and this condition causes him great unease.”
A rather large portion of the book (26 pages) is dedicated to his writings on “The Testament of Orpheus”. This film is probably the only film I’m not fond of in the Jean Cocteau canon (meaning those films released as DVDs by the Criterion Collection), but after reading so much about it, I got kind of pumped on the idea of rewatching it. This particular section also ends with a great quotable sentiment on death: “I leave this universe for another, and I should like to leave it one day murmuring what was shouted by a gentleman after a performance at the Theatre de l’Avenue: ‘I didn’t understand a thing. I demand my money back.’”
Not everything in this book of selected writings (articles, letters, etc.) of Cocteau on film is inspired, but there is enough honest and humble insight into himself and his work to make it worthwhile to continue reading through to the end. Many of the films he writes about – particularly some of the ones that he wrote the screenplays for, but did not direct – are difficult to next to impossible for someone like me (lives in Mesa Arizona without a region-free DVD player and who does not speak French) to ever view. Similarly, some of the best of the “Unpublished Synopses” at the end of book are for films that -- as far as I can discern -- never actually made it to the screen. I particularly like the last one, “La Venus d’Ille”, where the protagonist “Georges, is a poet who has not written anything. He is a poet who is unaware of being one, and this condition causes him great unease.”
A rather large portion of the book (26 pages) is dedicated to his writings on “The Testament of Orpheus”. This film is probably the only film I’m not fond of in the Jean Cocteau canon (meaning those films released as DVDs by the Criterion Collection), but after reading so much about it, I got kind of pumped on the idea of rewatching it. This particular section also ends with a great quotable sentiment on death: “I leave this universe for another, and I should like to leave it one day murmuring what was shouted by a gentleman after a performance at the Theatre de l’Avenue: ‘I didn’t understand a thing. I demand my money back.’”
June 17, 2007
Apart from all films, short or long films, such as The Blood of The Poet, and The Testament of Orpheus, this book is a collection of his ideas and passion about film and cinema as a medium, as much as his admiration of Charles Chaplin and Orson Wells. They use to call him “a visionary poet”. His published Screenplays prove that.
November 28, 2018
The book collects Cocteau's writings on film throughout his life. I loved this fascinating book. Reading Cocteau's thoughts on film is one of my favourite things! Would recommend on its own and alongside the books: Cocteau on the Film and Beauty and the Beast: Diary of a Film.
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August 9, 2011loved the poetic language
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews