55 years ago, in 1962, playwright, painter, poet, novelist, and film director Jean Cocteau recorded an address to the people of the world in the year 2000. The artist died the following year on October 11, 1963, and while these aren’t literally his last words they make a nice parting message from one of the greatest artists of the 20th century to all of us here in the 21st. Cocteau was a trixter who mixed media and messages from the silly to the sublime in novels like Les Enfants Terribles and masterpiece movies like Beauty and the Beast. Here, he’s funny and wise, but also humble and warm saying things like:
“One thinks that the word genius is not to be used and that genius only belongs to Goethe, to Victor Hugo, to Shakespeare, but no! Genius can be the way a woman steps out of her car…”
Here’s the maestro…
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