If you don't like B&W films - DON'T read on....your prejudice will stop any open mindedness you will need to experience this film! If you loath French films... well you've got the idea!
I watched this years ago and many images are vivid 10 years on. Orpheus falls for a French version of the Hepburn woman and becomes besotted. She is his muse, inspiration, and life. She is in fact Death! She visits him nightly in his bedroom and gradually draws him to her world. Bearing in mind this is over 50 years old, the effects certainly stay with you. "Les miroirs sont les portes par lesquelles la Mort va et vient". Orpheus' journey to the underworld is strange. There are certain elements that reward multiple viewings. It washes over you and facets drip and stay in your thoughts.
Did I mention its context - besides the Greek allusions - is post-war France/Thrace It contains a French cafe, motorbikers, in-jokes about existentialism?
A true film studies course recommendation - meaty, stimulating, weird, but fascinating offering from Cocteau, the guy who did Beauty & the Beast - no, not the Disney version! And for fans of Liv Tyler's "Stealing Beauty" - Jean Marais - Orpheus is the old man in THAT film!