I watched the movie Orpheus and the only homosexual relationship was between Heurtebise and Orpheus. Because of how Heurebise always followed Orpheus around, and when Orpheus was being forced out of the underworld backwards it was awkward how Heurtebise was reaching out to him almost like he was trying to catch him and bring him back. That was the only homosexual undertone that I could find in the movie. But it doesn't make sense because Heurtebise seemed to be in love with Orpheus' wife, which may be Bisexual but I'm not sure. I think that we were looking wayy too hard in the movie looking for homosexual undertones. I don't think that Orpheus falling in love with Death seemed to be homosexual at all. I didn't catch on to the whole Death usually being a male role therefore Orpheus is gay because he fell in love with the woman role...? I didn't get all of that. Death was a woman in the movie, and thats what I portrayed her as.
I did love the idea of Orpheus falling in love with Death though. After he met her, his life had changed, he became obsessed with the car radio and he was really mean to his wife. From the moment he saw her in the Cafe I knew he was in for an adventure. When Cegeste died in the car and she took him through the mirrors, I knew that she was Death. Which made it ironic that he was chasing "Death" the whole movie. I didn't get that they loved eachother until the scene that she was standing above his bed watching him sleep. But when she looked at his wife, I knew that she was going to do something to get rid of her. Also it was funny when he kissed her in the underworld, because then I knew he was going to die. Because you can't "kiss death" and live. Right?
I could be wrong about the whole thing. But these are the thoughts that I had. Take them or leave them I suppose.
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I agree with you Amanda! I didn't really see any homosexual relationships in the film at all... I mean, Orpheus is married with a baby on the way and all the teenage girls love him. Orpheus is in love with Death too, who's a woman. Hertebise is in love with Orpheus's wife. I guess that leave Cegeste alone, but he didn't seem to be in love with anyone. I think if we wanted to find something that has gay undertones we have to look really hard, like you said... and probably if we have to look that hard it isn't worth finding!
ReplyDeleteAnd I like that you said he was chasing Death through the whole film, it's true! And kinda romantic in a weird way. The one thing in the world a normal person wouldn't want closer to them is death, but Orpheus doesn't seem to mind.
What did you think about the ending when Death erases everything and Orpheus and his wife are happy again?
"It's the kiss of death from Mr. Goldfinger."
ReplyDeleteSorry, I just enjoy starting things with quotes. Anyway, I do understand your not seeing Orphe and Death being in love - I didn't see it either. Even when she stood over his bed, I thought she was just being a creepy, obsessive fan. It was only afterward, upon reflecting on the myth of Orpheus that I developed the theory of Death in the place of young boys.
What were your thoughts on Heurtebise falling for Orphe's wife? You mentioned that you supposed it made him bisexual, but you didn't say anything about your feelings about the situation. So what about it? Did it seem off to you? I kind of thought it was originally in the script as character development, but got nixed because it took up too much time and distracted from the rest of the plot. It wasn't nearly developed enough to be "important" to me. And if he really were in love with her, wouldn't he want to bring *her* back from the Underworld rather than sending Orphe back? Just some ideas to puzzle over.
I'm with you on the Orph and Hert as being just about the only homosexual themed area of the movie. It just seemed like Hert was either a really, really good friend, or just into Orpheus a bit more than that. What was his motivation for being so helpful you wonder? I'm thinking maybe since he's also into Eurydice, maybe he wants to do things that might help her since a romance between himself and Eury is not in the cards. Like, he keeps urging Orph to pay attention to his wife. And once she goes to the underworld, it's Hert that guides him there to bring her back. It's like an "If I can't have her, I'm going to make it so you can" set of actions. And even when they get back and Orph can't look upon her, Hert is right there trying to enforce the guideline. So who knows, homosexual, bisexual, asexual, just friends...
ReplyDeleteI'm going to take your thoughts here Amanda. I really enjoyed your reference to kissing Death... Its true.
ReplyDeleteWhat confuses me however, is how Death is so picky. She knows about Cegeste, he is killed by her men. But what is the context at which she knows him? To what capacity did she know of Orpheus before Eurydice dies? Or was she always a creeper going thru their mirror to watch him sleep?
First of all I hope no one took offence to any of this. I want to point out that I have no problem with homosexuals or bisexuals or anything of hat sort, I was just trying to get my thoughts out. Sorry!
ReplyDeleteSecond of all I'm Not sure what I thought of the ending. It threw me off. Maybe it was because Death was being arrested that Changed everything back. Like maybe the head guys changed it instead? I'm not sure.
I also thought it was cool that chasing death isn't what a "normal" person would have set out to do with their life.
I do agree that Death was rather creepy, and stalkeryish. (I know that's not really) Oh word.
No, you're not being offensive Amanda, and you're asking good questions. And I really don't think the movie showed homosexual relationships at all. What the reading described is something more like a homosexual experience, or outlook, as a cultural outsider who, like a poet, is constantly decoding messages and signs--in a way that is often dangerous and also often eroticized. And there's the very old perception, current in Cocteau's time, that the artistic and homosexual personality were similar, what was described as an aesthetic personality, or what people your grandparents age might describe as an 'artistic type' referring to a man, as a nice way of saying 'gay.'
ReplyDeleteAlso, there's a lot of naked male statuary and mirror images of Jean Marais's face--the idealized love object, who is also a reflection.
Does that make more sense?