SYNOPSIS

The Orpheus and Eurydice myth of ancient Greece is set against the colorful backdrop of Rio de Janeiro's Carnival in this retelling of the famous story. Orfeo is a trolley car conductor engaged to the fiery and demanding Mira. However, when Orfeo meets beautiful country girl Eurydice, he is captivated by her gentle sweetness and falls instantly in love. Before they can be together, Orfeo must deal with his fiancée's vengeful jealousy as Eurydice tries to escape a mysterious man dressed as "Death" who wants to kill her. When things take a tragic turn, Orfeo must embark on a mystical journey to the underworld.

Director: Marcel Camus
Producer: Sacha Gordine
Screenplay: Jacques Viot, Camus
Based on the play Orfeu da Conceicao by Vinicius de Moraes
Cinematography: Jean Bourgoin
Editing: Andree Feix
Music Composer: Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfa
Cast: Breno Mello (Orfeo), Marpessa Dawn (Eurydice), Lourdes de Oliveira (Mira), Lea Garcia (Serafina), Ademar Da Silva (Death), Alexandro Constantino (Hermes), Waldemar De Souza (Chico), Jorge Dos Santos (Benedito), Aurino Cassiano (Zeca).
C-106m.

Why BLACK ORPHEUS is Essential

Black Orpheus was one of the most successful international films of its time. It won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film of 1959. Explosive, colorful, exuberant, and touchingly tragic, this film as a modern retelling of a classical Greek myth is one of the freshest and most original modern films ever made.

Black Orpheus boasts some of the most beautifully photographed color images in modern cinema. With his location photography, cinematographer Jean Bourgoin uniquely captured the vibrant colors of the exotic costumes and scenery of Rio de Janeiro during Carnival. New York Herald Tribune writer Paul Beckley called it "the most sensuous use of color I have ever seen on film...it is not so much dressed in color as created out of color."

The exuberant samba music for Black Orpheus composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfa had a huge impact on audiences and musicians outside of Brazil. The soundtrack was a bestselling album, and it launched an international fascination with bossa nova music, which still enjoys popularity to this day.

by Andrea Passafiume