If you've never seen Jean Cocteau's version of the classic tale, you really should. I don't usually like having to deal with English subtitles, because they are so distracting. But the pain is worth it for this beautiful film that tells the story of Orpheus, but in a contemporary setting. It also contains some hauntingly beautiful dialog, as when Orpheus is talking with Death in the underworld. Orpheus originally went there looking for his wife, but he falls in love with Death, a beautiful and mysterious female form.

Death explains that she cannot fall in love, and there is nothing they can do about it. She tells Orpheus that she is not actually in charge, but merely follows orders from a higher power. The conversation continues:

Orpheus: Where do the orders come from?

Death: They are sent back and forth by so many sentinels like the tom-toms of your African tribes . . . the echoes of your mountains . . . the wind whispering through your trees.

Orpheus: I will go to he who gives those orders.

Death: My poor love, he exists nowhere. Some say he thinks of us . . . others, that we are his thoughts. Others say he sleeps and that we are his dream . . . his bad dream.