Black Orpheus
Directed by Marcel Camus
Studio: Criterion
Year: 1959
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 107 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: Dolby Digital 1.0 Portuguese, English
Subtitles: English
MSRP: $ 29.95
Release Date: August 17, 2010
Review Date: August 1, 2010
The Film
3.5/5
A tragic story of a doomed romance enveloped in the continually percussive sounds of the samba make Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus a once in a lifetime love story. Freely adapted from the myth of the sweet singing Orpheus and his beautiful love Eurydice lost forever to the Underworld, Black Orpheus won a shelf full of awards (including the Palme d’Or at Cannes and both the Golden Globe and the Oscar for Best Foreign Film during a season that also included masterpieces such as The 400 Blows and Wild Strawberries) and began an international craze for the bossa nova. In retrospect, it really can’t hold a candle to either of those other foreign film triumphs of 1959, but it nevertheless retains its zest, its riotous color, and its simple love story which even after centuries told in many different media remains timeless.
It’s the time of Carnival in Rio, and streetcar conductor Orfeu (Breno Mello) is goaded into an engagement with the vivacious but demanding Mira (Lourdes De Oliveira). Before he can don his costume for the unruly festival, he meets and falls instantly in love with Eurídice (Marpessa Dawn), a shy young girl who’s a cousin of Serafina (Lea Garcia), Mira’s best friend. When she realizes what’s going on, Mira vows to kill Erídice if she doesn’t leave her man alone, but a death figure (Adhemar Da Silva) skulking around the edges of the celebration has his own plans for the fragile, frightened Eurídice.
There’s absolutely no denying that the bossa nova beat that permeates almost the entirety of the film either front and center or in the background of other scenes, is completely infectious, sweeping the viewer along (like many of the characters in the film) into the nucleus of the singing and dancing. Antonio Carlos Jobim, who contributed three haunting songs to the movie, all of which made him an instant worldwide celebrity and recording artist in his own right, has worked alongside composer Luis Bonfá to add considerable sass and sizzle to the mix, and combined with the singing and dancing talents of the two stars, the film, while not strictly a musical, has a rhythmic soul that buoys the simplistic love story and gives it a worthy context to hold our attention. Camus reaches his apex in one terrifically evocative scene where Eurídice, fleeing from Mira and pursued by Death, enters an electrical conduit labyrinth, filmed with moody, threatening red lighting and the ominous hum of the transformers, a sequence of wonderfully sustained tension and dread.
Neither of his leading actors had had much acting experience prior to making the movie. Surprisingly Marpessa Dawn was a Pittsburgh-born dancer doing her first acting role, and Breno Mello was a star soccer player. Both acquit themselves admirably, especially Mello whom the camera seems to love (aided immeasurably by the form fitting Apollo costume Isabel Pons designed for him to wear for most of the movie. Lea Garcia had played Mira in the stage version, but Camus has switched her to the more comic role of Serafina, and it’s a change that works well. Lourdes De Oliveira owns the role of Mira with her eyes palpably flashing jealousy throughout the movie. Adhemar Da Silva’s cat-like grace makes him a formidable Death. Alexandre Constantino’s Hermes, Orfeu’s understanding older friend, proves himself a noble companion.
Video Quality
4/5
The film is framed at 1.33:1 and is slightly windowboxed in Criterion’s usual fashion with Academy ratio pictures on their DVD releases. The Eastmancolor palette is excellently reproduced in this transfer with bold reds, blues, greens, and golds standing out. Somewhat disappointing, however, is the sharpness of the image. The picture seems just a tad soft, surprising for a transfer Criterion calls a “new, restored high-definition digital transfer.” Black levels, however, are really superb and are the best thing about this new edition. The white subtitles are very easy to read. The film has been divided into 17 chapters.
Audio Quality
4/5
The Dolby Digital 1.0 audio track may be monaural, but the incessant beat of the samba and bossa nova music has good fidelity with a decent low end and a high end that is never distorted. Dialogue has been post synced, of course, so it does have a somewhat flat tone to it, but it nevertheless has been well recorded and is never overpowered by the continuous music. Criterion has also provided an optional Dolby Digital 1.0 English dubbed track, but I didn’t listen to it.
Special Features
4/5
The film is contained on disc one in the set. All of the following bonus supplements are contained on disc two.
A vintage interview with director Marcel Camus was filmed in Cannes in 1959 prior to the movie winning the grand prize. He discusses the problems he faced filming in Brazil and the ultimate joy he had in doing the movie. It runs for 3 ¼ minutes and is in 4:3.
Actress Marpessa Dawn speaks about her career in an interview in French filmed in 1963 after she had appeared in several more films after her debut in Black Orpheus. She talks about how she was discovered, and her desire to do a stage production of My Fair Lady (which unfortunately didn’t happen). The interview runs 5 ¼ minutes in 4:3.
“Revisiting Black Orpehus” is a critique of the movie by film scholar Robert Stam lasting for 16 ½ minutes in anamorphic widescreen.
“Black Orpheus and That Bossa Nova Sound!” is an entertaining discussion of the rise of the samba and the bossa nova revolution which swept the world after the film premiered. Critic Gary Giddins and author Ruy Castro discuss the musical merits in an 18-minute interview (each man speaks separately) presented in anamorphic widescreen.
“Looking for Black Orpheus” is an extensive 88 ¾-minute documentary examining modern Brazil and looking for any traces of the Black Orpheus influences which might still be seen today. Filmed in 2005, it’s in anamorphic widescreen.
The film’s theatrical trailer which is narrated cleverly by Orfeu’s guitar runs 4 ¼ minutes in 4:3.
The enclosed 19-page booklet features cast and crew lists, some beautiful color frames from the movie, and an appreciative essay on the film by critic Michael Atkinson.
In Conclusion
4/5 (not an average)
A half a century hasn’t dimmed much of the color and spirit of Camus’ Black Orpheus. It’s a treasurable love story (somewhat reminiscent of West Side Story in its tale of doomed love) surrounded by an ingratiating bossa nova beat. Recommended!
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
