Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) was a French poet, novelist, playwright and filmmaker. Cocteau is best known for his novel Les enfants terribles (1929), the stage play La voix humaine (1930), and the films Le sang d’un poète (1930), La belle et la bête (1946) and Orphée (1949). His filmography is marked by his partnership with actor Jean Marais, who played important roles in many of his films. Cocteau famously defined himself as a “lie that always tells the truth”, a masterful illusionist who nimbly manoeuvred through different styles and genres, most notably surrealism, symbolism and dadaism.