''Black Orpheus'' (
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
: ''Orfeu Negro'' ) is a 1959
romantic tragedy
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
film made in Brazil by French director
Marcel Camus
Marcel may refer to:
People
* Marcel (given name), people with the given name Marcel
* Marcel (footballer, born August 1981), Marcel Silva Andrade, Brazilian midfielder
* Marcel (footballer, born November 1981), Marcel Augusto Ortolan, Brazilian s ...
and starring
Marpessa Dawn and
Breno Mello
Breno Higino de Mello (September 7, 1931 – July 11, 2008) was a Brazilian athlete and actor. He is primarily known for playing the title role in the 1959 film ''Orfeu Negro'' (''Black Orpheus'').
Biography
Mello was born in Porto Alegre, ...
. It is based on the play ''
Orfeu da Conceição'' by
Vinicius de Moraes
Marcus Vinícius da Cruz e Mello Moraes (19 October 1913 – 9 July 1980), better known as Vinícius de Moraes () and nicknamed O Poetinha ("The little poet"), was a Brazilian poet, diplomat, lyricist, essayist, musician, singer, and playwright ...
, which is itself an adaptation of the
Greek legend of
Orpheus and Eurydice
The ancient legend of Orpheus and Eurydice (, ''Orpheus, Eurydikē'') concerns the fateful love of Orpheus of Thrace for the beautiful Eurydice. Orpheus was the son of Apollo and the muse Calliope. It may be a late addition to the Orpheus myths ...
, set in the modern context of a ''
favela
Favela () is an umbrella name for several types of working-class neighborhoods in Brazil. The term was first used in the Providência neighborhood in the center of Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century, which was built by soldiers who had ...
'' in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
during ''
Carnaval''. The film was an international co-production among
production companies
A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, an ...
in Brazil, France and Italy.
The film is particularly noted for its soundtrack by two Brazilian composers:
Antônio Carlos Jobim
Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim (25 January 1927 – 8 December 1994), also known as Tom Jobim (), was a Brazilian composer, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, arranger, and singer. Considered one of the great exponents of Brazilian mu ...
, whose song "
A felicidade" opens the film; and
Luiz Bonfá
Luiz Floriano Bonfá (17 October 1922 – 12 January 2001) was a Brazilian guitarist and composer. He was best known for the music he composed for the film ''Black Orpheus''.
Biography
Luiz Floriano Bonfá was born on October 17, 1922, in ...
, whose "
Manhã de Carnaval
"Manhã de Carnaval" ("Carnival Morning") is a song by Brazilian composer Luiz Bonfá and lyricist Antônio Maria.
"Manhã de Carnaval" appeared as a principal theme in the 1959 Portuguese-language film ''Orfeu Negro'' by French director Marcel ...
" and "Samba de Orfeu" have become classics of ''
bossa nova
Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...
''. The songs sung by the character Orfeu were dubbed by singer
Agostinho dos Santos
Agostinho dos Santos (April 25, 1932 – July 11, 1973) was a Brazilian singer and composer of bossa nova, MPB and rock and roll, active from the early 1950s until his premature death in the crash of Varig Flight 820 in 1973, at the age of 41.
...
. Lengthy passages of the film were shot in the
Morro da Babilônia
The Morro da Babilônia (, ''Babylon Hill'') is a hill in the Leme neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro, separating Copacabana beach from Botafogo. It is home to a ''favela'' known by the same name, as well as the favela Chapéu Mangueira. Morro da B ...
, a ''
favela
Favela () is an umbrella name for several types of working-class neighborhoods in Brazil. The term was first used in the Providência neighborhood in the center of Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century, which was built by soldiers who had ...
'' in the
Leme neighbourhood of
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
.
''Black Orpheus'' won the
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
at the
1959 Cannes Film Festival, the 1960
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for
Best Foreign Language Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
, the 1960
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
for
Best Foreign Film
The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...
and was nominated for the
1961 BAFTA Award for
Best Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
.
Plot
A marble Greek ''
bas relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
'' explodes to reveal
Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
men dancing the
samba
Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havin ...
to drums in a ''
favela
Favela () is an umbrella name for several types of working-class neighborhoods in Brazil. The term was first used in the Providência neighborhood in the center of Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century, which was built by soldiers who had ...
''. Eurydice (
Marpessa Dawn) arrives in Rio de Janeiro, and takes a
trolley driven by Orfeu (Breno Mello). New to the city, she rides to the end of the line, where Orfeu introduces her to the station guard, Hermes (Alexandro Constantino), who gives her directions to the home of her cousin Serafina (
Léa Garcia
Léa Garcia (born March 11, 1933) is a Brazilian actress. She is known for her numerous television and film roles. Her breakout role was in the Oscar-winning ''Black Orpheus'', in which she portrayed Serafina, Eurydice's crazy cousin.
Television ...
).
Although engaged to Mira (
Lourdes de Oliveira), Orfeu is not very enthusiastic about the upcoming marriage. The couple go to get a marriage license. When the clerk at the courthouse hears Orfeu's name, he jokingly asks if Mira is Eurydice, annoying her. Afterward, Mira insists on getting an engagement ring. Though Orfeu has just been paid, he would rather use his money to get his guitar out of the pawn shop for the carnival. Mira finally offers to loan Orfeu the money to buy her ring.
When Orfeu goes home, he is pleased to find Eurydice staying next door with Serafina. Eurydice has run away to Rio to hide from a strange man who she believes wants to kill her. The man – Death dressed in a stylized skeleton costume – finds her, but Orfeu gallantly chases him away. Orfeu and Eurydice fall in love, yet are constantly on the run from both Mira and Death. When Serafina's sailor boyfriend Chico (Waldemar De Souza) shows up, Orfeu offers to let Eurydice sleep in his home, while he takes the hammock outside. Eurydice invites him to her bed.
Orfeu, Mira, and Serafina are the principal members of a
samba school
A samba school ( pt, Escola de samba) is a dancing, marching, and drumming (Samba Enredo) club. They practice and often perform in a huge square- compounds ("quadras de samba") and are devoted to practicing and exhibiting samba, an Afro-Brazilian ...
, one of many parading during
Carnival
Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...
. Serafina decides to have Eurydice dress in her costume so that she can spend more time with her sailor. A veil conceals Eurydice's face; only Orfeu is told of the deception. During the parade, Orfeu dances with Eurydice rather than Mira.
Eventually, Mira spots Serafina among the spectators and rips off Eurydice's veil. Eurydice is forced once again to run for her life first from Mira, then from Death. Trapped in Orfeu's own trolley station, she hangs from a power line to get away from Death and is killed accidentally by Orfeu when he turns the power on and electrocutes her. Death tells Orfeu "Now she's mine," before knocking him out.
Distraught, Orfeu looks for Eurydice at the Office of Missing Persons, although Hermes has told him she is dead. The building is deserted at night, with only a janitor sweeping up. He tells Orfeu that the place holds only papers and that no people can be found there. Taking pity on Orfeu, the janitor takes him down a large darkened spiral staircase – a reference to the mythical Orpheus' descent into the underworld – to a
Macumba
''Makumba'' () is a term that has been used to describe various religions of the African diaspora found in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. It is sometimes considered by non-practitioners to be a form of witchcraft or black magic.
The ...
ritual, a regional form of the Afro-Brazilian religion
Candomblé.
At the gate, there is a dog named
Cerberus
In Greek mythology, Cerberus (; grc-gre, Κέρβερος ''Kérberos'' ), often referred to as the hound of Hades, is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. He was the offspring of the ...
, after the three-headed dog of
Hades
Hades (; grc-gre, ᾍδης, Háidēs; ), in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although this also ...
in Greek mythology. During the ritual, the janitor tells Orfeu to call to his beloved by singing. The spirit of Eurydice inhabits the body of an old woman and speaks to him. Orfeu wants to gaze upon her, but Eurydice begs him not to lest he lose her forever. When he turns and looks anyway, he sees the old woman, and Eurydice's spirit departs, as in the Greek myth.
Orfeu wanders in mourning. He retrieves Eurydice's body from the city morgue and carries her in his arms across town and up the hill toward his home, where his shack is burning. A vengeful Mira, running amok, flings a stone that hits him in the head and knocks him over a cliff to his death with Eurydice still in his arms.
Two children, Benedito and Zeca – who have followed Orfeu throughout the film – believe Orfeu's tale that his guitar playing causes the sun to rise every morning. After Orfeu's death, Benedito insists that Zeca pick up the guitar and play so that the sun will rise. Zeca plays, and the sun comes up. A little girl appears, gives Zeca a single flower, and the three children dance.
Cast
![Orfeu Negro, 1959](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Orfeu_Negro%2C_1959.jpg)
*
Breno Mello
Breno Higino de Mello (September 7, 1931 – July 11, 2008) was a Brazilian athlete and actor. He is primarily known for playing the title role in the 1959 film ''Orfeu Negro'' (''Black Orpheus'').
Biography
Mello was born in Porto Alegre, ...
as Orfeu
*
Marpessa Dawn as Eurydice
*
Marcel Camus
Marcel may refer to:
People
* Marcel (given name), people with the given name Marcel
* Marcel (footballer, born August 1981), Marcel Silva Andrade, Brazilian midfielder
* Marcel (footballer, born November 1981), Marcel Augusto Ortolan, Brazilian s ...
as Ernesto
*
Fausto Guerzoni
Fausto Guerzoni (1904–1967) was an Italian film actor.Freire-Medeiros p.193 A character actor, he appeared in Italian films in supporting roles from the mid-1930s.
Selected filmography
* ''Cavalry'' (1936)
* '' The Former Mattia Pascal'' (1937) ...
as Fausto
*
Lourdes de Oliveira as Mira
*
Léa Garcia
Léa Garcia (born March 11, 1933) is a Brazilian actress. She is known for her numerous television and film roles. Her breakout role was in the Oscar-winning ''Black Orpheus'', in which she portrayed Serafina, Eurydice's crazy cousin.
Television ...
as Serafina
*
Adhemar da Silva as Death
* Alexandro Constantino as Hermes
* Waldemar De Souza as Chico
* Jorge Dos Santos as Benedito
* Aurino Cassiano as Zeca
Notes
* Marpessa Dawn was not from Brazil, but from
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, Pennsylvania.
* Breno Mello was a
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
player with no acting experience at the time he was cast as Orfeu. Mello was walking on the street in Rio de Janeiro, when director Marcel Camus stopped him and asked if he would like to be in a film.
* Da Silva, the actor who played Death, was a
triple jump
The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...
er who won two Olympic gold medals, in 1952 and 1956.
* The role of Zeca was played by Aurino Cassiano, a young musician from a large musical family. With brother Amaury on
cavaquinho and Aurino on
pandeiro
The pandeiro () is a type of hand frame drum popular in Brazil. The pandeiro is used in a number of Brazilian music forms, such as samba, choro, coco, and capoeira music.
The drumhead is tunable, and the rim holds metal jingles (''platinelas'' ...
, they performed in the streets, calling themselves "Dupla Chuvisco". In 1957, they were invited to perform in a film, ''
Pega Ladrão'', and then Aurino appeared in another, ''
Vai que é Mole''. It was during the filming of ''Vai que é Mole'' that Marcel Camus saw Aurino performing on location, and invited him to test for ''Black Orpheus''.
Reception
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds a rating of 87% from 70 reviews with the consensus: "Colorful, atmospheric, and infectious, ''Black Orpheus'' takes an ancient tale and makes it fresh anew, thanks in part to its bewitching bossa nova soundtrack."
Awards and honors
''Black Orpheus'' won the
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
at the
1959 Cannes Film Festival, the 1960
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for
Best Foreign Language Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
, the 1960
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
for
Best Foreign Film
The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...
and was nominated for the
1961 BAFTA Award for
Best Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
. In the last case, Brazil was credited together with France and Italy. In July 2021, the film was shown in the Cannes Classics section at the
2021 Cannes Film Festival.
Influence
''Black Orpheus'' was cited by
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement.
Basquiat first achieved fame as part of the graffiti duo SAMO, alongside Al ...
as one of his early musical influences, while
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
notes in his
memoir
A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...
''
Dreams from My Father'' (1995) that it was his mother's favorite film. Obama, however, did not share his mother's preferences upon first watching the film during his first years at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
: "I suddenly realized that the depiction of the childlike blacks I was now seeing on the screen, the reverse image of
Conrad's dark savages, was what my mother had carried with her to
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
all those years before, a reflection of the simple fantasies that had been forbidden to a white, middle-class girl from
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
, the promise of another life: warm, sensual, exotic, different."
The film's soundtrack also inspired
Vince Guaraldi
Vincent Anthony Guaraldi (; birth name, né Dellaglio, July 17, 1928 – February 6, 1976) was an American jazz pianist best known for composing music for animated television adaptations of the ''Peanuts'' comic strip. His compositions for this s ...
's 1962 album ''
Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus
''Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus'' is the third album by American jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi (credited to the Vince Guaraldi Trio), released in 1962 on Fantasy Records. It is considered Guaraldi's breakthrough album and made him a household ...
''.
As a child,
Bong Joon-ho watched the film on Korean television and it made a big impact on him.
Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member S ...
's fourth studio album
Reflektor
''Reflektor'' is the fourth studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released on October 28, 2013, through Sonovox Records internationally and Merge Records in the United States. A double album, it was recorded between 2011 and 2 ...
featured themes linked and inspired by the film.
Remakes and adaptations
*In 1999,
Carlos Diegues
Carlos Diegues, also known as Cacá Diegues (born May 19, 1940), is a Brazilian film director. He was born in Maceió, Alagoas, and is best known as a member of the Cinema Novo
Cinema Novo (), "New Cinema" in English, is a genre and movement o ...
made ''
Orfeu
''Orfeu'' is a 1999 Brazilian drama film directed by Carlos Diegues, based on the play ''Orfeu da Conceição'' by Vinicius de Moraes. It retells the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, setting it in the modern context of Rio de Janeiro during ...
'' with a soundtrack featuring Brazilian singer-songwriter
Caetano Veloso
Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo, which encomp ...
. The director said it was not a remake of ''Black Orpheus'' but a film based on Vinicius de Moraes' 1956 play.
See also
*
*
References
External links
*
*
*
*
Culture Vulture review of ''Black Orpheus''''Black Orpheus''an essay by
David Ehrenstein
David Ehrenstein (born February 18, 1947) is an American critic who focuses primarily on gay issues in cinema.
Life and career
Ehrenstein was born in New York City. His father was a Jew with Polish ancestors, and his mother was half-black and ha ...
at the
Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
''Black Orpheus: Dancing in the Streets''an essay by
Michael Atkinson at the
Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
{{Authority control
1950s fantasy films
1959 films
Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners
Bossa nova albums
Brazilian comedy-drama films
Brazilian musical films
Films based on classical mythology
Films directed by Marcel Camus
Films set in Rio de Janeiro (city)
Films shot in Rio de Janeiro (city)
French comedy-drama films
Orpheus
Palme d'Or winners
1950s Portuguese-language films
Romantic fantasy films
1959 comedy-drama films
Brazilian films based on plays
Films scored by Antônio Carlos Jobim
Italian comedy-drama films
1950s Italian films
1950s French films