Jean Cocteau and the critics, autograph signed letter, Orpheus, 1950

  

Size: 27 x 21 cm. Autograph envelope and stamp preserved.

Cocteau congratulates the playwright on his play “We Will Go to Valparaiso,” which is enjoying great popular success at the Théâtre de l’Athénée, even though part of the critics reproach Achard for his usual “lightness.” Cocteau’s film Orpheus, released a few weeks earlier, divides the critics even more sharply: the film “specialists” dismiss its dreamlike poetry as pretentious, while audiences flock to the cinemas in large numbers. The film would later be rehabilitated and then celebrated over the decades, influencing many directors from Jean-Luc Godard to David Lynch.

It seems the play is doing extremely well. Those poor critics will have to understand that they can only lose at roulette. I will go, as a provincial, to one of my visits in town.

Orpheus is selling out everywhere. Those gentlemen are sick over it. Below are the original French and English posters for Orpheus.