Blood of a Poet
(Le Sang d'un Poète)

Matthew Nolan, electric guitar / electronics
Erik Friedlander, cello
Seán Mac Erlaine, piano / electronics
Lisa Dowdall, viola / viola d’amore
Introduced by Dr Alexandra Lukes, Department of French, Trinity College Dublin

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The Blood of a Poet (Le Sang d'un Poète), the first part of Jean Cocteau’s Orphic Trilogy, is considered one of the finest surrealist films ever made. Enter this extraordinary world in a special presentation that features the world premiere of a new score co-written and performed by Erik Friedlander and Matthew Nolan, joined by special guests Seán Mac Erlaine and Lisa Dowdall and introduced by Dr Alexandra Lukes of Trinity College Dublin.

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Cocteau wrote that this film marks ‘a descent into oneself … a kind of half-sleep through which I wandered as though in a labyrinth.’ He approached the movie screen as ‘the true mirror reflecting the flesh and blood of [his] dreams’. Told in four parts, The Blood of a Poet begins with an artist in his studio speaking to a living statue, then stepping through a mirror into another realm.  

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While its images and set pieces are dense with interpretive possibilities, the film is understood as a kind of subversive autobiography and an exploration of the relationship between creator and creation. It is a fascinating souvenir of a vanished avant-garde, featuring the only on-screen performance by photographer Lee Miller. 

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Matthew Nolan’s live film score projects previously performed on the stage of the NCH include Hitchcock’s The Birds, Dracula, Metropolis, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Night of the Living Dead and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.