The concept is there: Jacques Demy updating Cocteau's ORPHEUS up to the 1980's, whereas Orpheus is now a rock musician, and, in an interesting bit of casting, Eurydice is played by an Asian actress. He even hired matinee idol Jean Marais (star of the original film) to play The Devil (and by the way, Hades is an underground parking garage!).
But the promise basically ends on that note. Demy is certainly the perfect choice for realizing this material, but his flair for colour, rhythm and tone -best seen in DONKEY SKIN (in which Marais also starred), LOLA, and of course, THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG- has shockingly vanished. Instead, this film is flat, and rather depressing. Too bad.
But couldn't you just picture this updated material being redone as a stage musical today? With Paul Stanley as Orpheus, co-starring Gene Simmons and Marie Osmond? Plus Elton John and Tim Rice doing the music of course...
