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Film · TMDB
7.0Young lovers Orfeu and Eurydice run through the favelas of Rio during Carnaval, on the lam from a hitman dressed like Death and Orfeu's vengeful fiancée Mira and passing between moments of fantasy and stark reality. This impressionistic retelling of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice introduced bossa nova to the world with its soundtrack by young Brazilian composers Luiz Bonfá and Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Cast
- Breno Mello as Orfeo
- Marpessa Dawn as Eurydice
- Lourdes de Oliveira as Mira
- Léa Garcia as Serafina
- Adhemar Ferreira da Silva as Death
- Waldetar De Souza as Chico
Themes
- guitar
- rio de janeiro
- samba
- trolley
- dancing in the street
- based on myths, legends or folklore
- detached
- carnaval
- demeaning
- orpheus
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Ratings
IMDb
7.4/10
12,918 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
88%
Metacritic
81/100
- Year
- 1959
- Runtime
- 100 min
- Genres
- Drama, Musical, Romance
- Rated
- PG
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 4 wins & 2 nominations total
via OMDb · IMDb
Key facts
- Portuguese
- Orfeu Negro
- Directed by
- Marcel Camus
- Screenplay by
- Marcel Camus Jacques Viot
- Based on
- Orfeu da Conceição , 1956 play, by Vinicius de Moraes
- Produced by
- Sacha Gordine
- Starring
- Breno Mello Marpessa Dawn
- Cinematography
- Jean Bourgoin
- Edited by
- Andrée Feix
- Music by
- Luiz Bonfá Antônio Carlos Jobim
- Production companies
- Dispat Films (France) Gemma (Italy) Tupan Filmes (Brazil)
- Distributed by
- Lopert Pictures
- Release date
- 12 June 1959 ( 1959-06-12 ) (France)
- Running time
- 107 minutes
- Countries
- France Brazil Italy
- Language
- Portuguese
- Box office
- US$750,000
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Duration
- 107
- FilmAffinity ID
- 172778
- Image
- Orfeu Negro, 1959.jpg
Show 5 more facts
- publication date
- 1959-06-12
- title
- Black Orpheus
- review score
- 81/100
- box office
- 750000
- Commons category
- Orfeu Negro
Sources (14)
via Wikidata · CC0
~9 min read
Article
Black Orpheus (Portuguese: Orfeu Negro [ɔhˈfew ˈnegɾu]) is a 1959 romantic tragedy 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 legend of Orpheus and Eurydice in a contemporary favela in Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval. The film was an 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 dubbed by singer Agostinho dos Santos. Lengthy passages of filming took place in the Morro da Babilônia, a favela in the Leme neighbourhood of Rio.