Opium: Diary of a Cure

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Opium: Diary of a Cure is a 1930 work by the French artist and writer Jean Cocteau. The book details Cocteau's recovery from addiction to opium. [1]

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Jean Cocteau French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker

Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. Cocteau is best known for his novels Le Grand Écart (1923), Le Livre Blanc (1928), and Les Enfants Terribles (1929); the stage plays La Voix Humaine (1930), La Machine Infernale (1934), Les Parents terribles (1938), La Machine à écrire (1941), and L'Aigle à deux têtes (1946); and the films The Blood of a Poet (1930), Les Parents Terribles (1948), from his own eponymous piéce, Beauty and the Beast (1946), Orpheus (1949), and Testament of Orpheus (1960), which alongside Blood of a Poet and Orpheus constitute the so-called Orphic Trilogy. He was described as "one of [the] avant-garde's most successful and influential filmmakers" by AllMovie.

Les Six group of French composers

"Les Six" is a name given to a group of six French composers who worked in Montparnasse. The name, inspired by Mily Balakirev's The Five, originates in critic Henri Collet's 1920 article "Les cinq Russes, les six Français et M. Satie". Their music is often seen as a reaction against both the musical style of Richard Wagner and the impressionist music of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.

Cocteau Twins Scottish rock band

Cocteau Twins were a Scottish rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth by Elizabeth Fraser (vocals), Robin Guthrie, and Will Heggie (bass), with Heggie replaced by multi-instrumentalist Simon Raymonde in 1983. They were associated with the British record label 4AD for much of their career.

Jean Marais French actor

Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais, known professionally as Jean Marais, was a French actor, writer, director and sculptor. He performed in over 100 films and was the muse of acclaimed director Jean Cocteau. In 1996, he was awarded the French Legion of Honor for his contributions to French Cinema.

<i>Parade</i> (ballet) ballet on music by Satie, scenario by Cocteau, set designs & costumes by Picasso

Parade is a ballet with music by Erik Satie and a one-act scenario by Jean Cocteau. The ballet was composed in 1916–17 for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. The ballet premiered on Friday, May 18, 1917 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, with costumes and sets designed by Pablo Picasso, choreography by Léonide Massine, and the orchestra conducted by Ernest Ansermet.

<i>Les Enfants Terribles</i> book by Jean Cocteau

Les Enfants Terribles is a 1929 novel by Jean Cocteau, published by Editions Bernard Grasset. It concerns two siblings, Elisabeth and Paul, who isolate themselves from the world as they grow up, an isolation which is shattered by the stresses of their adolescence. It was first translated into English by Samuel Putnam in 1930 and published by Brewer & Warren Inc. A later English translation was made by Rosamond Lehmann in 1955, and published by New Directions (ISBN 0811200213) in the U.S., and Mclelland & Stewart in Canada in 1966, with the title translated as The Holy Terrors. The book is illustrated by the author's own drawings.

<i>The Blood of a Poet</i> 1930 film by Jean Cocteau

The Blood of a Poet (1930) is an avant-garde film directed by Jean Cocteau, financed by Charles de Noailles and starring Enrique Riveros, a Chilean actor who had a successful career in European films. Photographer Lee Miller made her only film appearance in this movie, which features an appearance by the famed aerialist Barbette. It is the first part of the Orphic Trilogy, which is continued in Orphée (1950) and concludes with Testament of Orpheus (1960).

<i>Testament of Orpheus</i> 1960 film by Jean Cocteau

Testament of Orpheus is a 1960 black-and-white film with a few seconds of color film spliced in. Directed by and starring Jean Cocteau, who plays himself as an 18th-century poet, the film includes cameo appearances by Pablo Picasso, Jean Marais, Charles Aznavour, Jean-Pierre Leaud and Yul Brynner. It is considered the final part of the Orphic Trilogy, following The Blood of a Poet (1930) and Orphée (1950).

Les Parents terribles is a 1938 French play written by Jean Cocteau. Despite initial problems with censorship, it was revived on the French stage several times after its original production, and in 1948 a film adaptation directed by Cocteau himself was released. English-language versions have been produced under various titles including Intimate Relations and Indiscretions.

<i>The Eagle with Two Heads</i> 1948 film by Jean Cocteau

The Eagle with Two Heads is a French film directed by Jean Cocteau released in 1948. It was adapted from his own play L'Aigle à deux têtes which was first staged in 1946, and it retained the principal actors from the first Paris production.

<i>Les Parents terribles</i> (1948 film) 1948 film by Jean Cocteau

Les Parents terribles is a 1948 film adaptation directed by Jean Cocteau from his own stage play Les Parents terribles. Cocteau used the same cast who had appeared in a successful stage revival of the play in Paris in 1946. The film has sometimes been known by the English title The Storm Within.

L'Aigle à deux têtes is a French play in three acts by Jean Cocteau, written in 1943 and first performed in 1946. It is known variously in English as The Eagle with Two Heads, The Eagle Has Two Heads, The Two-Headed Eagle, The Double-Headed Eagle, and Eagle Rampant. The title refers to the double-headed eagle of heraldry. Cocteau also directed a film of his play which appeared in 1948.

Les mariés de la tour Eiffel is a ballet to a libretto by Jean Cocteau, choreography by Jean Börlin, set by Irène Lagut, costumes by Jean Hugo, and music by five members of Les Six: Georges Auric, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc and Germaine Tailleferre. The score calls for two narrators. The ballet was first performed in Paris in 1921.

Antigone is a play by Jean Cocteau, written in Paris in 1922.

Max Coyer (1954–1988) was an American artist, born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1954.

Margaret Crosland is an English literary biographer and translator. She has also used the pen name Leonard de Saint-Yves.

Jean Cocteau Museum

The Jean Cocteau Museum/Séverin Wunderman Collection is a museum in Menton, on the French Riviera, in the Alpes-Maritimes department. Dedicated to the French artist Jean Cocteau, it incorporates the collection of American businessman and Cocteau enthusiast Séverin Wunderman.

Bastion Museum

The Bastion Museum is a museum of works by Jean Cocteau, on the harbour wall of Menton, on the French Riviera, in the Alpes-Maritimes department of France. The Bastion was built in the 17th century by Honoré II, Prince of Monaco. Cocteau restored the Bastion himself, decorating the alcoves, reception hall and outer walls with mosaics made from pebbles.

A list of books and essays about artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau:

Jean Cocteau House

The Jean Cocteau House was the residence of the French poet, artist, playwright and film maker Jean Cocteau (1889–1963), which he purchased with the film actor Jean Marais in 1947, and where he created many of his later works before his death in 1963. It is located about fifty kilometers south of Paris in the village of Milly-la-Forêt in the Essonne Department of France. The 16th century house was originally part of the domain of a 13th-century chateau whose moat and a ruined tower are next to the house. The house also has gardens and a small wooded park. The house now displays furnished rooms and a museum of his work. The tomb of Cocteau, decorated with his work, is found in a small chapel, Saint Blaise des Simples, at the edge of town not from the house. The house facade and roof were listed in the supplemental inventory of historic monuments in 1969.

References

  1. James S. Williams (1 February 2008). Jean Cocteau. Reaktion Books. pp. 142–. ISBN   978-1-86189-354-3.