The Blood of a Poet
Dir: Jean Cocteau
1932
*****
Jean Cocteau's dreamlike debut is a surreal poem and should be watched accordingly. Cocteau is one of the great pioneers of cinema although I don't think he ever intended to be nor believed he ever was. In Blood of a Poet, he really brings to life what had only before been communicated in word, and so helped the world realise cinema's full potential and invented many camera techniques still used today. Although I prefer L' Âge d'Or as a surrealist piece and Chelovek s kino-apparatom (Man with a Movie Camera) is more entertaining and will always be regarded as the more inventive film of that time, it simply isn't. Only a few years separate all three films, Blood of a Poet is my least favourite but is easily, technically, the greater film. A true masterpiece and a very important film.

La Belle et la Bete (Beauty and the Beast)
Dir: Jean Cocteau
1946
*****
The ultimate 'Once upon a time..' story masterfully crafted by poet, artist, and all round polymath, Jean Cocteau, whose visual style is perfectly at home in the medium of fairytale. You may feel like you've seen this film before, that is probably because it's been dissected, bastardised, repackaged and force fed to you by Disney. *Rant over*, this is a wonderful film and an unmissable classic.
PS. English Cocteau fans (and those who are visiting London) should go see his paintings that are permanently on display at the Church of Notre Dame de France, just behind Leicester square. It's quite special, even if you're not religious!

Les Enfants Terribles (AKA The Strange Ones)
Dir: Jean-Pierre Melville
1950
****
I'm a big fan of Jean Cocteau's work and I have read the novel on which this is based and I just can't understand why Cocteau didn't direct it himself!? He was just getting over his opium addiction at the time but I can't help but think that might have helped. Considering both he and Melville clashed on so many aspects of this film it hasn't turned out too bad but the contrasts of the two is obvious. For starters, I think the casting of Edouard Dermithe was wrong, as did Melville, but it's obvious that he was Cocteau's object of desire. Renée Cosima dual role was confusing and added nothing to the story but at least Nicole Stéphane did a fine job. Unfortunately both Cocteau and Melville have been on better form, it lacked Cocteau's usual flare and Melville's often brash but poetic intensity but it did follow the story perfectly when it mattered.