Black Orpheus

2025-10-25T17:57:25Z

2603:8000:B401:3400:9974:C886:7EEF:834A: adapted IPA pronunciation from European to Brazilian Portuguese (Carioca dialect)

{{short description|1959 film by Marcel Camus}}
{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Black Orpheus
| native_name = {{Infobox name module|pt|Orfeu Negro}}
| image = BlackOrpheusposter.jpg
| caption = Original poster
| director = [[Marcel Camus]]
| screenplay = {{unbulleted list|Marcel Camus|[[Jacques Viot (writer)|Jacques Viot]]}}
| based_on = {{based on|''[[Orfeu da Conceição]]''<br>1956 play|[[Vinicius de Moraes]]}}
| starring = {{unbulleted list|[[Breno Mello]]|[[Marpessa Dawn]]}}
| producer = Sacha Gordine
| music = {{unbulleted list|[[Luiz Bonfá]]|[[Antônio Carlos Jobim]]}}
| cinematography = [[Jean Bourgoin]]
| editing = [[Andrée Feix]]
| studio = {{unbulleted list|Dispat Films (France)|Gemma (Italy)|Tupan Filmes (Brazil)}}
| distributor = [[Lopert Pictures]]
| released = {{film date|1959|6|12|France|df=yes}}
| runtime = 107 minutes
| country = {{ubl|France|Brazil|Italy}}
| language = Portuguese
| budget =
| gross = {{USD|750,000}}<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1960/04/07/archives/mgm-cashing-in-on-oscar-victory-benhur-gross-expected-to-reach-7.html "M-G-M Cashing In on Oscar Victory: ''Ben-Hur'' Gross Expected to Reach 7 Million by Week's End – ''Spartacus'' Booked"], ''The New York Times'', 7 April 1960, p. 44.</ref>
}}

'''''Black Orpheus''''' ([[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]: '''''Orfeu Negro''''' {{IPA|pt|ɔhˈfew ˈnegɾu|}}) is a 1959 [[romance film|romantic]] [[tragedy]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.houstonpress.com/arts/black-orpheus-6586113|title=Black Orpheus|first=Julia|last=Youssefnia|date=19 July 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/2002-08-16/black-orpheus-1959/|title=Review: ''Black Orpheus'' (1959)|first=Eli|last=Kooris|date=16 August 2002|work=[[The Austin Chronicle]]|access-date=29 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=usccBQAAQBAJ&q=black+orpheus+tragedy&pg=PA141|title=Tragedy|first=Sarah|last=Dewar-Watson|date=10 June 2014|publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education|isbn=9780230392595|via=Google Books}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/black-orpheus/review/|title=Black Orpheus|first=David|last=Parkinson|website=Empire|year=2000 }}</ref> film directed by French filmmaker [[Marcel Camus]] and starring [[Marpessa Dawn]] and [[Breno Mello]]. It is based on the play ''[[Orfeu da Conceição]]'' by [[Vinicius de Moraes]], which set the [[Greek mythology|Greek legend]] of [[Orpheus and Eurydice]] in a contemporary ''[[favela]]'' in [[Rio de Janeiro]] during ''[[Brazilian Carnival|Carnaval]]''. The film was an [[co-production (media)|international co-production]] among companies in Brazil, France and Italy.

The film is particularly noted for its soundtrack by two Brazilian composers: [[Antônio Carlos Jobim]], whose song "[[A felicidade]]" opens the film, and [[Luiz Bonfá]], whose "[[Manhã de Carnaval]]" and "Samba de Orfeu" have become classics of [[bossa nova]]. The songs performed by Orfeu were [[dubbing (filmmaking)|dubbed]] by singer [[Agostinho dos Santos]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Castro|first=Ruy|title=Bossa Nova: The Story of the Brazilian Music That Seduced the World|year=1990|publisher=A Capella Books|location=Chicago|isbn=978-1-55652-494-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bossanovastoryof00cast/page/166 166–167]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/bossanovastoryof00cast/page/166}}</ref> Lengthy passages of filming took place in the [[Morro da Babilônia]], a [[favela]] in the [[Leme, Rio de Janeiro|Leme]] neighbourhood of [[Rio de Janeiro]].<ref>Valladares, Licia (2008). [http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/etext/llilas/vrp/valladares.pdf ''Social Science Representations of Favelas in Rio De Janeiro: A Historical Perspective''.]</ref><ref>[[Alex Bellos|Bellos, Alex]] (14 January 2006). [https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2006/jan/14/brazil.riodejaneiro.onlocationfilminspiredtravel "Movie palace"], ''[[The Guardian]]''.</ref>

''Black Orpheus'' won the [[Palme d'Or]] at the [[1959 Cannes Film Festival]],<ref name="Black Orpheus">{{cite web |url=https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2021/interview-with-amir-labaki-about-black-orpheus-orfeu-negro-the-1959-palme-d-o|title=Interview with Amir Labaki about Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro), the 1959 Palme d'or|first=Charlotte |last=Pavard|date=November 7, 2021|access-date=29 Jul 2024|website=[[Festival de Cannes]]}}</ref> the 1960 [[Academy Award]] for [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film|Best Foreign Language Film]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1960|title=The 32nd Academy Awards (1960) Nominees and Winners|access-date=27 October 2011|publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]}}</ref> the 1960 [[Golden Globe Award]] for [[Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film|Best Foreign Film]] and was nominated for the [[14th British Academy Film Awards|1961 BAFTA Award]] for [[BAFTA Award for Best Film|Best Film]].

While the 1959 adaptation has been celebrated internationally, it has been criticized by Brazilians and scholars for [[Exoticism|exoticizing]] Brazil for an international audience and reinforcing harmful [[stereotype]]s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Black Orpheus {{!}} Brazil: Five Centuries of Change |url=https://library.brown.edu/create/fivecenturiesofchange/chapters/chapter-6/black-orpheus/#:~:text=Shot%20entirely%20in%20the%20favela,only%20in%20singing%20and%20dancing. |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=library.brown.edu}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Veloso |first=Caetano |author-link=Caetano Veloso|date=August 20, 2000 |title=An Orpheus, Rising From Caricature |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/082000orfeu-brazil-film.html |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=archive.nytimes.com}}</ref>

==Plot==
A marble Greek [[bas-relief]] explodes, revealing [[Afro-Brazilian]] men dancing the [[samba]] to drums in a [[favela]]. Eurydice arrives in Rio de Janeiro and takes a [[Tram|trolley]] driven by Orfeu. New to the city, she rides to the end of the line, where Orfeu introduces her to the station guard, Hermes, who gives her directions to the home of her cousin Serafina.

Although engaged to Mira, Orfeu is not very enthusiastic about their upcoming marriage. The couple goes 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 [[Brazilian Carnival|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 whom 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 shows up, Orfeu offers to let Eurydice sleep in his home, while he takes the hammock outside. Eurydice invites him to her bed, and they make love.

Orfeu, Mira, and Serafina are the principal members of a [[samba school]], one of many parading during Carnival. Serafina decides to have Eurydice dress in her Queen of the Night costume so that she can spend more time with Chico. 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 and then from Death. Trapped in Orfeu's own trolley station, she hangs from a power line to get away from Death and is accidentally killed 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]] ritual, a regional form of the Afro-Brazilian religion [[Candomblé]].

At the gate, they pass a guard dog named [[Cerberus]]. 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 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==
[[File:Orfeu Negro, 1959.jpg|thumb|upright|Poster by [[Helmuth Ellgaard]] for the German release]]
* [[Breno Mello]] as Orfeu
* [[Marpessa Dawn]] as Eurydice
* [[Marcel Camus]] as Ernesto
* [[Fausto Guerzoni]] as Fausto
* [[Lourdes de Oliveira]] as Mira
* [[Léa Garcia]] 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 was born near [[Pittsburgh]], Pennsylvania.<ref name="dean">Dean, Loomis (14 March 1960), [https://books.google.com/books?id=blUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA57 "America's Dawn Comes Up in France"], ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'', p. 57.</ref>
* Breno Mello was a [[soccer]] player with no acting experience at the time he was cast as Orfeu.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hevesi|first=Dennis|title=Breno Mello, 76, Star of ''Orpheus'', Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/06/movies/06mello.html|access-date=25 February 2012|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=5 September 2008}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|last=Guyot|first=Jean-François|title=Astro de ''Orfeu Negro'' conhece Cannes 46 anos apos vencer festival|url=http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/ilustrada/ult90u50821.shtml|agency=Agence France-Presse|access-date=25 February 2012|date=17 May 2005}}</ref>
* Da Silva, the actor who played Death, was a [[triple jump]]er who won two Olympic gold medals, in 1952 and 1956.<ref name=sports-reference>{{cite web|title=Adhemar da Silva|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/da/adhemar-da-silva-1.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417110330/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/da/adhemar-da-silva-1.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 April 2020|website=sports-reference.com|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|access-date=13 June 2015}}</ref>
* 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]], they performed in the streets, calling themselves "Dupla Chuvisco". In 1957, they were invited to perform in a film, ''[[Pega Ladrão]]'',<ref>{{IMDb title|0196837|Pega Ladrão|(1957)}}</ref> and then Aurino appeared in another, ''[[Vai que é Mole]]''.<ref>{{IMDb title|0201296|Vai que é Mole|(1960)}}</ref> 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''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jornaldelavras.com.br/index.php?p=10&tc=4&c=773&catn=3&scatn=44|title=Entrevista: era uma dupla; hoje moram em Lavras; o filme ganhou um Oscar|first=Diter |last=Stein|work=Jornal de Lavras|date=3 April 2014|language=pt|access-date=29 December 2019}}</ref>

==Reception==
===Critical response===
On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds a rating of 87% from 71 reviews, and an average rating of 7.9/10, 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."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/black_orpheus|title = Black Orpheus|website = [[Rotten Tomatoes]]}}</ref> [[Metacritic]] assigned the film a weighted average score of 81 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/black-orpheus?ftag=MCD-06-10aaa1c | title=Black Orpheus | website=[[Metacritic]] }}</ref>

However, the film has been criticized, especially in Brazil.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hgN19rl218|title=The Double Life of Black Orpheus - Orfeu Negro (1959)|publisher=Plan-Séquence|via=YouTube|date=19 February 2021}}</ref> [[Vinicius de Moraes]], author of the 1956 play ''[[Orfeu da Conceição]]'' upon which the film was based, was outraged and left the theater in the middle of the screening.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Kino |first=Das |date=2021-02-16 |title=Orfeu negro: não era só um filme sobre Carnaval |url=https://omunicipioblumenau.com.br/das-kino-orfeu-negro-nao-era-so-um-filme-sobre-carnaval/ |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=O Município Blumenau|language=pt-BR}}</ref> Critics of the adaptation by [[Marcel Camus]] argued that it reinforced various stereotypes about Brazilian culture and society and about Afro-Brazilians specifically, portraying the characters as "simple-minded, overtly sexual, and interested only in singing and dancing."<ref name=":0" /> Setting out to make itself more "appealing" to foreign audiences, the film resorts to a "cheap and problematic exoticism" of Brazil.<ref name=":1" />
===Awards and nominations===
''Black Orpheus'' won the [[Palme d'Or]] at the [[1959 Cannes Film Festival]],<ref name="Black Orpheus"/> the 1960 [[Academy Award]] for [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film|Best Foreign Language Film]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1960|title=The 32nd Academy Awards (1960) Nominees and Winners|access-date=27 October 2011|publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]}}</ref> and the 1960 [[Golden Globe Award]] for [[Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film|Best Foreign Film]], and was nominated for the [[14th British Academy Film Awards|1961 BAFTA Award]] for [[BAFTA Award for Best Film|Best Film]]. 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]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thefilmstage.com/2021-cannes-classic-lineup-includes-orson-welles-powell-and-pressburger-tilda-swinton-more/ |title=2021 Cannes Classics Lineup Includes Orson Welles, Powell and Pressburger, Tilda Swinton & More |work=The Film Stage|first=Leonard |last=Pearce |date=23 June 2021 |access-date=25 June 2021}}</ref>

==Influence==
''Black Orpheus'' was cited by artist [[Jean-Michel Basquiat]] as one of his early musical influences,<ref>Fretz, Eric (2010). ''Jean-Michael Basquiat: A Biography'', Greenwood Biographies, p. 5.</ref> while [[Barack Obama]] notes in his [[memoir]] ''[[Dreams from My Father]]'' (1995) that it was his mother's favorite film.<ref>Gonzalez, Ed (22 March 2008), [http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2008/22/barack-obama-a-story-of-race-and-politics "The House Next Door: Barack Obama: A Story of Race and Politics"], ''[[Slant Magazine]]''.</ref><ref>Williams, Tia (21 August 2011). [http://www.essence.com/2011/08/21/black-orpheus-marpessa-dawn/ "Vintage Vamp: Black Orpheus Star Marpessa Dawn"], ''[[Essence (magazine)|Essence]]''.</ref> Obama, however, did not share his mother's preferences upon first watching the film during his first years at [[Columbia University]]: "I suddenly realized that the depiction of the childlike blacks I was now seeing on the screen, the reverse image of [[Joseph Conrad|Conrad]]'s dark savages, was what my mother had carried with her to [[Hawaii]] all those years before, a reflection of the simple fantasies that had been forbidden to a white, middle-class girl from [[Kansas]], the promise of another life: warm, sensual, exotic, different."<ref>[[Peter Bradshaw|Bradshaw, Peter]] (2 February 2009), [https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2009/feb/02/barack-obama-black-orpheus "Why Obama is wrong about Black Orpheus"], ''The Guardian''.</ref>

The film's soundtrack also inspired [[Vince Guaraldi]]'s 1962 album ''[[Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus]]''.

As a child, filmmaker [[Bong Joon-ho]] watched the film on Korean television and it made a big impact on him.<ref>{{YouTube|qBgZQCkUp7E|Bong Joon Ho's DVD Picks}}. 8 July 2014.</ref>

[[Arcade Fire]]'s fourth studio album ''[[Reflektor]]'' (2013) featured themes linked and inspired by the film.

==See also==
* ''[[Orfeu]]'', a 1999 film adapted from the same source material<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/25/movies/film-review-reborn-in-a-less-romantic-rio-orpheus-seasons-samba-with-rap.html|title=Film Review; Reborn in a Less Romantic Rio, Orpheus Seasons Samba With Rap|last=Scott|first=A. O.|work=The New York Times |date=25 August 2000 |access-date=2018-10-02|language=en}}</ref>
* [[List of submissions to the 32nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film]]
* [[List of French submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|0053146}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|black_orpheus}}
* {{TCMDb title|68912}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928000107/http://www.culturevulture.net/Movies/blackorpheus.htm Culture Vulture review of ''Black Orpheus'']
* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7-black-orpheus ''Black Orpheus''] an essay by [[David Ehrenstein]] at the [[Criterion Collection]]
* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1559-black-orpheus-dancing-in-the-streets ''Black Orpheus: Dancing in the Streets''] an essay by [[Michael Atkinson (writer)|Michael Atkinson]] at the [[Criterion Collection]]

{{Orpheus}}
{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for ''Black Orpheus''
|list =
{{AcademyAwardBestForeignLanguageFilm 1947–1960}}
{{Palme d'Or}}
{{Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film}}
}}
{{French submission for Academy Awards}}
{{Portal bar|France|Brazil|Italy|Film|Music|Theatre|1950s}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1950s Brazilian films]]
[[Category:1950s fantasy films]]
[[Category:1950s French films]]
[[Category:1950s Italian films]]
[[Category:1950s Portuguese-language films]]
[[Category:1959 comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:1959 films]]
[[Category:Best International Feature Film Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:Bossa nova albums]]
[[Category:Brazilian comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:Brazilian films based on plays]]
[[Category:Brazilian musical films]]
[[Category:Films about Orpheus]]
[[Category:Films directed by Marcel Camus]]
[[Category:Films scored by Antônio Carlos Jobim]]
[[Category:Films set in Rio de Janeiro (city)]]
[[Category:Films set in slums]]
[[Category:Films shot in Rio de Janeiro (city)]]
[[Category:French comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:Italian comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:Palme d'Or winners]]
[[Category:Romantic fantasy films]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Vinicius de Moraes]]

Vero - Wikipedia - User contributions [en]

Black Orpheus