The Eagle Has Two Heads
Synopsis
Political intrigue and psychological drama run parallel. The queen is in seclusion, veiling her face for the ten years since her husband's assassination, longing to join him in death. Stanislas, a poet whose pen name is Azrael, is a suicidal anarchist, his imagination haunted into hate by longing for this queen who's drawn apart. He enters her private quarters intent on killing her then himself, but they fall in love, in part because he looks like the king. Stanislas wants her to regain political power by appearing to the public, and she tries to convince him to find hope and escape. All the while, the queen's enemies plot to keep the lovers together but to thwart their plans.
Source : IMDb
Credits
Director (1)
Actors (24)
Production and distribution (4)
- Executive Producers : Les Films Ariane, Sirius
- Associate producer : Les Films Vog
- Film exports/foreign sales : Tamasa Distribution
- French distribution : Sirius
Full credits (16)
- Adaptation : Jean Cocteau
- Screenwriter : Jean Cocteau
- Director of Photography : Christian Matras
- Music Composer : Georges Auric
- Assistant Director : Hervé Bromberger
- Editor : Raymond Leboursier
- Sound Recordist : René Longuet
- Costume designer : Marcel Escoffier
- Author of original work : Jean Cocteau
- Producers : Alexandre Mnouchkine, Georges Dancigers, Francis Cosne, Lucien Masson
- Voice : Jean Cocteau
- Camera Operator : Alain Douarinou
- Production Manager : Maurice Hartwig
- Production Designer : Georges Wakhevitch
- Artistic Director : Christian Bérard
- Still Photographer : Raymond Voinquel
Media Gallery
Technical details
- Type : Feature film
- Genres : Fiction
- Sub-genre : Drama, Historical
- Themes : Love, Fate, History
- Production language : French
- Production country : France (100.0%)
- Original French-language productions : Unspecified
- Nationality : 100% French (France)
- Production year : 1947
- French release : 22/09/1948
- Runtime : 1 h 36 min
- Current status : Released
- Visa number : 6723
- Visa issue date : 02/06/1948
- Approval : Yes
- Production formats : 35mm
- Color type : Black & White
- Aspect ratio : 1.37
- Audio format : Mono
Box-office & releases
TV broadcasting
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News & awards
Selections (2)
Vues d'Afrique Montréal Film Festival
Canada, 2008
International Feature-length Documentary Competition
About
Production :
Cocteau's play was produced in Paris in 1946 and 1947, and his decision to make a prompt adaptation for the cinema allowed him to retain the principal actors who had enjoyed personal successes with their roles, especially Edwige Feuillère and Jean Marais. Cocteau declared his intention of following the three-act structure of the play closely, citing his admiration of the methods of Ernst Lubitsch, but he opened out some of the scenes into a wider variety of locations. Filming began in October 1947 at the Château de Vizille, and further shots were filmed at the Studio d'Épinay on the outskirts of Paris.
Christian Bérard supervised the art direction, and the sumptuous sets and costumes (executed by Georges Wakhévitch and Marcel Escoffier respectively) evoked a royal palace in an imaginary kingdom of 19th century middle-Europe. Georges Auric expanded the music which he had written for the stage production into a full score for the film.
Reception :
The film was released in Paris in September 1948. Its reception among French critics was mixed. It was appreciated for the sumptuous quality of its spectacle and for the elevated performances of its actors. Others however felt that its artificiality belonged to another age and another medium, and that Cocteau had not sufficiently emancipated his film from its theatrical origins.
When the film was shown in New York in 1948 and in London in 1949, the reviewers of both The New York Times and The Times shared a similar perplexity about the film's meaning and purpose.The film has in general not enjoyed the same attention as the others which Cocteau directed in the 1940s.
Source : Wikipedia
