1960 Academy Award Winner and winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival, Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus retells the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice against the madness of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. With its magnificent color photography and lively soundtrack, this film brought the infectious bossa nova beat to the United States. —The Criterion Collection
French motion-picture director who won international acclaim for his second film, Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus) in 1958. The film was praised for its use of exotic settings and brilliant spectacle and won first prize at both the Cannes and Venice film festivals as well as an Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Camus, educated as an art teacher, spent most of World War II as a prisoner of war, after which he entered the film industry as an assistant and technical adviser to directors Jacques Feyder and Luis Buñuel and others.
Morte en fraude (1956; Fugitive in Saigon, 1957), Camus’s first feature film, was a protest against the war in Indochina and received little attention. Later films—such as L’Oiseau de paradis (1961; Dragon Sky, 1964), Le Chant du monde (1965; “The Song of the World”), and Otalia de Bahia (1976)—also failed to attract the interest of critics and the public in the way that Orfeu Negro had. — Encyclopædia Britannica read more
Really good. I liked the opening especially, the ending dragged a teeeny bit in comparison. The use of mythology was awesome and the constant dancing was amusing. Also, I loved the artistry in the visuals, like the shot of Orpheus and Euridice in the palms at the foot of the hills at the end. Very nice 8D
There's a lot of commentary about the spectacle and the spirited music. Yet it's the sobering third act that does it for me -- when Carnival is over and the make-believe of costumes has lost its lustre. The shimmering veil is yanked away, revealing the gritty reality of life in a favela even as the mythology of Orpheus and Eurydice continues to play out. Camus finds splendor in the squalor and vice versa. Powerful.
A very discerning appraisal. I just revisited this after some years. The splendor of course is in the music.
In the Los Angeles Times, Dennis Lim writes that Maurice Pialat's first feature film, L'enfance nue (Naked Childhood, 1968), "out on DVD
There’s no question that Black Orpheus is a directorial masterpiece. Orchestrating such a massive number of people in such complexly staged scenes is no easy feat, and Marcel Camus does so beautifully… read review
I was really dazzled by all the color and jiving bodies in this picture!
I didn’t know anything about the Orpheus myth coming into this movie, but I didn’t have to in order to immensely enjoy… read review
The Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice transplanted to Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. The French director directed a mostly Brazilian cast. Like O Brother, Where Art Thou?, music plays a big role in… read review
If anything, the film is documenting a cultural event as much as it is trying to tell a literal story. Much of the camera work and screen time is devoted to providing the viewer with a sense of what… read review
