Orfeu Negro (1959)
Directed by Marcel Camus

Film Review

The film that introduced bossa nova to the world (if you believe its tagline) and brought international acclaim to its director, Marcel Camus, is one that you either love or loath.  It is not a film that is capable of leaving its spectator indifferent.  When it was first released in 1959 it rapidly became a worldwide hit and was showered with the most prestigious of awards, including the 1960 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Palme d'Or at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival.  Critical opinion was, however, very divided, and remains so to this day, but the fact remains that Orfeu Negro (a.k.a. Black Orpheus) is a visually explosive cinematic spectacle, a splashy but haunting evocation of the mysteries of love that is bursting at the seams with its own unique poetry.

Prior to this, Camus had made just one film, Mort en fraude (Fugitive in Saigon), a bleak drama set in Indochina which was banned in France's overseas territories on account of its anti-colonialist sentiment. Orfeu Negro is likewise set in an exotic location, namely Brazil's vibrant capital city, but it has no obvious political subtext and feels like an unbridled celebration of Brazilian culture, filmed entirely on location in Brazil with a cast of mostly unprofessional Brazilian actors.  The drama, a modern re-working of the Orpheus legend from Greek antiquity, adapted from Vinicius de Moraes's play Orfeu da Conceição, is set against the colourful backdrop of a street carnival in Rio de Janeiro.  The film's most lauded artistic component is its specially commissioned soundtrack from Brazilian composers Antônio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfá.  This contains bossa nova numbers which became famous the world over, popularising a new musical form.  The actor cast in the role of Orpheus was, at the time, a professional soccer player, Breno Mello, whom Camus apparently met in the street in Rio; Eurydice was played by Marpessa Dawn, an African-American dancer from Pittsburgh, who was briefly married to Camus.

One of the criticisms that is frequently levelled against Orfeu Negro is that it doesn't present anything like an authentic view of the life of Brazil's poor.  In a way that brings to mind Jacques Demy's garish makeover of the dreary town of Cherbourg in Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964), the film dresses up the slums of Rio to resemble some kind of kitsch Utopian haven where everyone is happy and comfortably situated.  Camus's portrayal of modern day Brazil is more lurid picture-book than real-life, the vibrant photography and flagrant lack of character depth accentuating the film's brazen artificiality.  For the film's detractors this was merely symptomatic of the gulf of understanding between South America as affluent Europeans liked to imagine it and the grim reality as experienced by the continent's working poor.

The Italian neo-realists often employed non-professional actors to endow their films with a heightened sense of reality.  Here Camus's use of non-professional actors appears to have entirely the opposite effect, making the two-dimensional characters appear even more shallow and unconvincing.  The combination of dodgy acting and even dodgier dialogue gives the film a casual sense of naivety, but, oddly, this works in the film's favour, adding to its primitive poetry.  Orfeu Negro was never intended to be a realist drama.  It is bold experiment with the cinematic form which shows how the essence of human feeling - encapsulated in the notion that love can conquer death - transcends culture.  The Orpheus legend owes its timeless, universal appeal to the fact that it has something fundamental to say about the human psyche, and Camus's film, whilst flawed in some respects, has a similar quality, reminding us that whatever our external differences, inside we are all alike.

Film Synopsis

Aware that someone is following her with evil intent, Eurydice runs away from her village in Brazil and finds shelter with her cousin Serafina in Rio.  On the eve of the carnival, she meets Orphée, a tram driver who is engaged to the beautiful but very jealous Mira.  Having fallen in love with Orphée, Eurydice dons Serafina's clothes for the carnival, hoping that she will not be noticed by Mira.  But the following day, Mira recognises Eurydice and she is far from happy.  Eurydice attempts to get away, but is unaware that a sinister character in a death mask is heading in her direction...