Orfeu Negro (1959)
Genre: Drama / Music
Duration: 107 minuten
Alternative title: Black Orpheus
Country:
Brazil / France / Italy
Directed by: Marcel Camus
Stars: Breno Mello, Marpessa Dawn and Lourdes de Oliveira
IMDb score:
7,4 (13.370)
Releasedate: 12 June 1959
Orfeu Negro plot
"The film that introduced Bossa Nova to the world..."
Film adaptation of the mythological story of Orpheus and Eurydice, set in Brazil at the end of the fifties. The beautiful young Eurydice has fled from her village to the city of Rio de Janeiro and wants to take shelter with her niece Serafina, because a man wants to kill her for unknown reasons. She arrives by boat and immediately has to struggle through the festivities, because it is carnival. She meets the tram driver Orpheus and it clicks immediately. However, Orpheus has betrothed to the possessive Mira just that day, and it is not only she who has a crush on him. Yet Orpheus and Eurydice can't get around each other...
Actors and actresses
Orfeo
Eurydice
Mira
Serafina
Chico
Hermes
Benedito
Zeca
Little Girl
Reviews & comments
Spetie
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- 38871 messages
- 8251 votes
The story of Orpheus, known to me, is sketched here, in a very exotic environment. A nice idea in itself. The Brazilian atmosphere is in any case good from the start. Lots of cheerful carnival music, with matching decoration, which makes it pretty good in terms of atmosphere. Still, it ended up being quite a long one, because unfortunately there are more minuses than pluses.
Of course the story is predictable, if you're familiar with it like I am, but that in itself doesn't even have to be such a big problem. First of all, it is the actors who are disappointing and often do little of it. Especially Breno Mello, who plays the role of Orpheus, is really dramatically bad at times, and very annoying. In any case, there is not a single character in it that managed to hit or grab me. The characters are all quite caricatured too, which doesn't really help either.
The directing isn't particularly good either. Camus does little with the camera and does not manage to get the most out of the beautiful location. The only thing that keeps you watching is the cheerful atmosphere and the nice decoration. Yet that is far too little to convince in its entirety. All in all, this fable turns out not to be an exotic surprise, but a minor mythological setback.
2.0*
Translated from Dutch · View original
Zeriel
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- 1397 messages
- 2661 votes
Great Brazilian atmosphere. Setting and decoration make the film worthwhile.
The story itself is wafer thin and already familiar, and failed to hold my attention. Especially the chase with "the killer" was without any tension, rather laughable.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Baboesjka
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- 891 messages
- 1953 votes
A reasonable movie. The acting isn't very good and the story didn't really captivate me, but it was entertaining for once, and the atmosphere has something to do with it. A small enough. 3*
Translated from Dutch · View original
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