On Sunday, August 7, we visited the home of Jean Cocteau — the poet, filmmaker, director, and ultimate creative artist — in Milly-la-Forêt. He purchased the property in 1947, with his then-partner, Jean Marais, and lived there until his death in 1963. The house has been open to the public since 2010 due to the patronage of Pierre Berge, the noted philanthropist.
The house is called Maison du Bailli and was built in the 17th century as part of the Chateau de la Bonde. The first and second floors are preserved as they were when Cocteau lived there. Cocteau and Marais purchased the house after the success of their avant-garde masterpiece La Belle et la Bete (Beauty and the Beast). It is here where Cocteau worked on the screenplays for the final two films in his Orphic Triolgy, Orpheus and Testament of Orpheus.
It’s very eclectic with hand sculptures, mirrors, and narwhal teeth on display. Seeing the home was the perfect way to learn about not just the surrealist and Dadaist movements, but one of the most creative people of the era.
The house is surrounded by beautiful gardens and a moat that is connected to the Chateau. There are fruit trees and abundant flowers. According to the museum brochure, “Cocteau loved to stroll through his apple orchard, among the flowers, or to greet the two sphinges leaning against the house when leaving his living room.” We might have taken a few apples. They were divine!
[And who knew that sphinge was the plural of sphinx?!]
“This is the house that was waiting for me … It gives me the example of the absurdly magnificent stubbornness of plants … The water of the moat and the sun paint on the walls of my room their false mobile marbles.” Jean Cocteau
Would highly recommend a visit to the Maison Jean Cocteau in the beautiful town of Milly-la-Forêt.
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