Cocteaurfeus

Dogmas from film schools and Jean Cocteau (1889-1963)

An actor must not look at the camera.

Jean Cocteau: Not valid, it doesn't matter.

The rule about the direction of the gaze.

Jean Cocteau: Not valid, it doesn't matter.

If a character goes one way, he must come from the other.

Jean Cocteau: Not valid, it doesn't matter.

One hundred and eighty degrees rule.

Jean Cocteau: One hundred and eighty degrees is taboo. Something sacred. If I decide otherwise, everyone smirks, the assistant and the assistant's assistant tell me they don't take responsibility for this. When the Rolls-Royce carrying Orpheus' corpse pulls up on the road, the panorama of three hundred and eighty degrees sends shivers down the spines of my young assistants. But I must add: after the editing, they admitted that I was right and that the captivating intermittency of the shots stems solely from this heresy of mine.

The grammar of all real filmmakers consists of similar "scandals". But the young dare not go against the tide, even when encouraged to do so by Orson Welles, John Ford or the Italian neorealists. The young should be entrusted with a hand-held camera and ordered not to follow any rules except those they invent when they write, i.e. when they film without fear of grammatical errors. Not that I would advise them to make grammatical mistakes, but anything is better than the academicism that hides behind the false modernity of film teaching.