Eurydice & Orphee

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The museum for film and the art of the moving image in the Netherlands. Visit the exhibition or cinema and discover our collection with more than 50.000 films.

Eye Filmmuseum

7 February Eye is closed

still from Orfeu Negro (Marcel Camus, BR/FR/IT 1959)

still Orfeu Negro (Marcel Camus, BR/FR/IT 1959)

Eye Filmmuseum seen across the river IJ © Marcus Koppen

Eye Filmmuseum, © Marcus Koppen

still from Cloacinae Serge Onnen & Sverre Fredriksen, NL 2017)

still from Eurydice, a Descent into Infinity (Celine Daemen, NL 2022)

campaign image Xtended: Eurydice, a Descent into Infinity (Celine Daemen, NL 2022)

still Eurydice, a Descent into Infinity (Celine Daemen, NL 2022)

still from Orphée (Jean Cocteau, FR 1950)

still Orphée (Jean Cocteau, FR 1950)

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This Virtual Reality opera is inspired by the ancient myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The audience makes a solitary journey to an in-between space, between matter and eternity, in which time fades and the laws of space become obsolete.

For centuries we have mused on the infinity of our soul, which after death leaves our body behind as a temporary shell and itself resumes to wander – whether by reincarnating, ascending to a heaven or being uploaded to the cloud. These are all desires based on the contradiction between the deceptive material world and a higher eternal reality in which we find our peace. Eurydice's hypnotic singing draws you deeper and deeper into a labyrinth of corridors, ruins and balustrades, beyond which dizzying depths and vistas open up. Your curiosity is the best compass in this fascinating in-between space full of poetry and enchanting music. Eurydice, a descent into infinity has been embraced by the festival circuit (among other things, it was selected for the Venice Immersive 2022 competition) and won awards at the Geneva International Film Festival and the Red Sea International Film Festival. About the director Celine Daemen (1995, The Netherlands) is a director of transdisciplinary art. Her work can be situated at the intersection between theatre, music, visual arts and technology. After graduating from the Academy of Performative Arts Maastricht, she made several productions in which immersion in both music and a virtual environment form the common thread. Celine is the founder of Studio Nergens, in which she forms transdisciplinary symbioses with varying collaborators and artists. Thematically, questions on “being” are central to her work. Celine wants to create sensory experiences that invite the audience to gaze inwards. This journey inwards takes them to a place where personal associations arise in response to universal philosophical questions. Film Orphée On 28 February, <a href="https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/eurydice-orphee/873461">Eye will host an evening</a> about the imagination and interpretation of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice with the makers of the VR experience and guests, followed by the film <a href="https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/orphee/872200">Orphée</a> (Jean Cocteau, 1950). The films <a href="https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/orfeu-negro/868184">Orfeu Negro</a> (Marcel Camus, 1959) and the opera film <a href="https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/orfeo/868179">Orfeo</a> (Claude Goretta, 1985) are also screened during the VR experience's run.

Eurydice, een afdaling in oneindigheid

A fantastic, tragic and all-Black reworking of the Orpheus myth by Marcel Camus with music by Antônio Carlos Jobim. The film won 
the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1959 and the Academy Award for Best Foreign 
Language Film in 1960. Screended parallel to the presentation of the VR experience 'Eurydice, a Descent into Infinity'.

Camus adapted the play Orfeu da Conceição by Vinicius de Moraes, which – in turn – is an adaptation of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. He translated the given to the present by situating it in a favela in Rio de Janeiro during carnival. Tram conductor Orpheus falls for Euridice, yet gets engaged to someone else, with death as an unwelcome carnival guest in fancy dress.

Orfeu negro

A poet descends into the underworld to find his deceased love, accompanied by a mysterious Princess-who-is-Death. Jean Cocteau’s hypnotic adaptation of the Orpheus myth is still regarded as an undisputed masterpiece of avant-garde cinema. Through the looking-glass, into dreamland.

Descending into the underworld to see your beloved again: it’s a classic tale. In the hands of poet, filmmaker and designer Jean Cocteau, the Orpheus story becomes a brilliant, surrealist parable about Death and Love.

Orphée

exclusiveScreeningsInEye

An evening with Celine Daemen and Aron Fels, makers of the VR experience ‘Eurydice. A descent into infinity’. With a performance from singer Sterre Konijn and a screening of Jean Cocteau’s hypnotic film version of the Orpheus myth, Orphée (1950).

Celine Daemen and Aron Fels talk about the background to and process of working on their poignant, award-winning virtual reality opera, based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Eurydice is the central character in <a href="https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/eurydice-een-afdaling-in-oneindigheid/863389" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Eurydice, A Descent into Infinity</a>. She is voiced by singer Sterre Konijn, who with her hypnotic song draws us ever-deeper into a labyrinth of passages, ruins and parapets, behind which dizzying chasms and vista stretch endlessly. Sterre sings the first part of the music, composed by Kate Moore, with a libretto by Charlotte van den Broeck. Magical imagination Programmer Anna Abrahams introduces the screening which follows: Jean Cocteau’s film classic Orphée (1950), which like the virtual reality experience is an exploration of desire, farewells and magical imagination. Orphée (Jean Cocteau, FR 1950, 112’) A poet descends into the underworld in search of his departed love, accompanied by a mysterious Princess-who-is-Death. Jean Cocteau’s adaptation of the Orpheus myth is still seen as an undisputed masterpiece of avant-garde cinema. Through the looking glass, into the dream. Alongside <a href="https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/orphee/872200" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Orphée</a> Eye is also showing <a href="https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/orfeu-negro/868184" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Orfeu negro</a> (1959) by Marcel Camus and Claude Goretta’s <a href="https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/orfeo/868179" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Orfeo</a> (1985).

Eye on Art also focuses on experimental work by the new generation of makers and creators Researchlabs and the rich and animated history of the avant-garde film (Masters of the Avantgarde).The programme is not tied to a strict format and ranges from artist’s talks by filming artists, film evenings put together by artists or special programmes to accompany art exhibitions. All editions of Eye on Art are introduced by a talk, a piece of music or a brief performance. In English.

Eye on Art

Xtended

the makers talk about their working process and what inspired them

Eurydice & Orphee

Eurydice & Orphée

An evening with Celine Daemen and Aron Fels, makers of the VR experience ‘Eurydice. A descent into infinity’. With a performance from singer Sterre Konijn and a screening of Jean Cocteau’s hypnotic film version of the Orpheus myth, Orphée (1950).

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Eurydice, een afdaling in oneindigheid

Orphée

Orfeu negro

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