At its outset, the onomatopoeia 💥 into the opening credits was enough to excite the senses, and highlight a beautiful tapestry of life on the hills of Rio de Janeiro. Orfeo Negro (Black Orpheus)’s motif was a celebration of the traditions, faith, rituals, and culture of Rio during Carnaval. The audience gets a snapshot into a community where its residents frequently congregate and nurture each other.
I instantly felt the essence of the setting—from the costumes, to the cinematography (in TECHNICOLOR), to the music and language, this film reimagines the classic Greek love story of Orpheus and Eurydice en noir. A splendid, devastating euphoria.
🥰 🥰 There’s something about Black people enjoying the mundanities of life on screen that really warms my heart. 🥰 🥰
The Elements:
Cinematography — The establishing shots of the picturesque Rio hills were **chef’s kiss**, and felt like they were filmed like a “poetic” or “observational“ documentary. The transitions from Eurydice’s (Marpessa Dawn) scattered and overwhelming travels through the city to Orfeo’s (Breno Mello) point-of-view shots as a streetcar conductor were important to form the perspectives of the two main characters.
Eurydice had a mission to find her cousin Serafina’s house as soon as possible. Orfeo was enjoying the pre-festivities of the city’s annual soirée. The sequence provided an immersive, “on-the-ground” perspective of the city’s prep for the famed festival. I appreciated the 1.37 : 1 aspect ratio more during these early scenes because the grainier shots of the landscape and the city’s parade added to the bustle and personality of the culture.
I admired the director of photography’s use of natural light throughout the film. The scenes during the introduction between Serafina and the younger boys on the hill, and when Orfeo and Eurydice share a tender moment relaxing with each other overlooking the hills were beautiful, and added a subdued compassion between the characters.
Costuming — As soon as Mira (Lourdes de Oliveira) appeared, I understood how important, specific, and character-defining the costuming choices were to the film. I could have muted the remainder of the film, and known that Mira was a dominant, peacock-like persona. The magenta dress with her busts spilling over was the perfect symbol for her demeanor as the attention-grabbing tyrant in Orfeo’s life. A stark contrast, for sure, to Eurydice’s traditional white dress, belted with a blue and white scarf printed with signs of the zodiac paired with white pumps. My immediate thought was all the dirt she’d find as soon as she climbed the hills to see her cousin. 😖😖 At least for those two characters, the costume choices were narrative statements and wise decisions.
Serafina’s Carnaval costume, which Eurydice later borrowed, was also quite a statement for the narrative. It included a veil that hid Eurydice’s face during the festival, and was important for many tangents of the film’s plot.
Acting — I’m not gon’ lie, the acting didn’t do it for me, and was not great by any means. But I love the weird, archaic acting idiosyncrasies in films during the “Golden Era” (1941-1954) and the avant-garde “Changes” era (1955-1976) of cinema. Films during these times featured competent actors, without question, but there’s this shared “over-acting” acting that sometimes feels so unnatural. Almost like a stage play that been adapted to the screen, but without any changes.
Aight, this may be hyperbolic AF, but Breno Mello + Marpessa Dawn may be THEE finest on-screen hetero- couple I’ve seen in any film. Like, of my life. Whew, chile—what was in the water back in 1959, and did anyone keep a bottle of it.
The child actors were my favorite of the cast. I caught a couple instances where Zeca (Aurino Cassiano) kept breaking the fourth wall, but it was cute. I enjoyed that both Zeca and Benedicto’s (Jorge Dos Santos) characters weren’t props, but were instrumental to key parts of the narrative.
Directing — Marcel Camus did his thang. I enjoyed his style and look forward to diving into his other works.
I wonder if it was easier or more challenging to re-imagine a well-known story. I admired how the writers used the registrar of Orfeo and Mira’s marriage license as the conduit introduce the popularity of Orfeo and Eurydice’s love match and to start conflict between him and Mira. The writers took artistic liberties, but it didn’t subvert from the essence of the story. 👌🏾👌🏾👌🏾
There were so many tender moments throughout the film, between Eurydice and Orfeo, Eurydice and Benedicto, even Serafina and Orfeo! Camus used lighting, the score, and cinematography to authenticate those relationships on screen. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Directing symbolism: connecting artifacts between characters was so dope!
Caged birds—Orfeo and Eurydice:
🦜 The caged bird references began when the visually-impaired man with balloons and leis at the port mistakenly bumped into Eurydice. He mentioned that she was “trembling like a caged bird.”
🦜 While Eurydice walked through the streets of Rio on the way to Serafina’s, she passes by caged birds.
🦜 Orfeo used caged birds as a simile in his retelling of the story which connected their names and foreshadows their romantic affair.
🦜Eurydice appearing at the bamboo-barred window in Orfeo’s abode resembled a cage.
The amulet necklace—Benedicto and Eurydice:
🧿 Benedicto foreshadows death when he hands Eurydice the amulet necklace he carved. This act notably followed Eurydice’s tearful plea to Serafina that the reason she fled her home was to evade a man who, she believes, intended to kill her.
🧿 After Orfeo and Eurydice are acquainted for the second time in Serafina’s abode, Zeca and Benedicto find them together watching the sunset. Zeca and Orfeo need to run off to Carnaval rehearsal, and Orfeo tells Benedicto to look after her. As they depart, Eurydice grabs the amulet and smiles at Benedicto, her protector.
🧿 When Death (a man dressed in a skintight black suit) finds Eurydice, Benedicto is not around. She’s vulnerable. Zeca alerts Orfeo. When Death appears again and Eurydice runs away, Ben runs after Death to protect her and is injured 🤕. She runs off, Death trailing closely, but is rescued by Orfeo. She still wears the amulet.
🧿 At Carnaval, Eurydice loses her amulet and tasks Benedicto to help find and protect it. It breaks, and she becomes vulnerable to mortality. Death, who is also lurking at the festivities, peeps all of this. 👀👀
The zodiac scarf—Orfeo, Eurydice, and Mira:
🧣 Orfeo used the scarf to lure Eurydice closer to him in Serafina’s abode. She used it as a shield.
🧣 At Orfeo’s home following the Death chase, the scarf becomes a conversation starter. Orfeo repeated his willingness to protect Eurydice, echoing his admiration he’d previously stated while he carried her up the hills to his place. Orfeo’s dog ripping the hole in the scarf foreshadowed that protection breakdown, the puncture in their budding relationship.
🧣Mira ripped the scarf to pieces after confronting Orfeo about his affection for Eurydice. It was the final breakdown in Mira and Orfeo’s relationship, and similarly and symbolically for that of Orfeo and Eurydice’s romantic affair.
Orfeo’s guitar—Mira, Orfeo, Zeca, Benedicto, and Eurydice:
🎶 The music was important to the theme, but the aim of Orfeo’s song’s message was lasting.
🎶 Mira wanted Orfeo to use his fresh ass paycheck to splurge on an engagement ring after they’d picked up their marriage licenses. Orfeo using his money to re-purchase his guitar was more important because he needed to bring it back to the hills to prepare for Carnaval—probably part two of their relationship breakdown following the quip from the registrar.
🎶 Zeca And Benedicto admired Orfeo and wanted to know if he, indeed, was the one who made the sun rise with his music. Gotta appreciate the impressionable and imaginative minds of children. 🥰🥰
🎶 Eurydice and Orfeo met again, after their initial encounter at the streetcar depot, when she heard him playing and singing (ironically) about the tale of their forthcoming connection.
🎶 Zeca and Benedicto brings Orfeo his guitar early one morning before the sun rises as a test. Orfeo strummed his guitar as the sun rose and awakens Eurydice. So peaceful.😌
Other highlights:
🇧🇷 The film explored the diverse depictions of faith and rituals of the Black Brazilian people. Crosses were present in Serafina’s house. After the love of his life passes on, Orfeo crossed into the underworld — a gated underground area with a guard dog and spiritual leader symbolizing Cerpheus and Hades. Good adaptation!
🇧🇷 The cinematography of the scene where Orfeo hears Eurydice’s voice through the elder at the ritual was beautiful! I had my fingers crossed at this scene because there’s room to get this pivotal part of Orfeo’s love story wrong. Using one of the briefly featured ancestors as the conduit for Orfeo to hear Eurydice’s voice again was awesome. His reaction to the “trick” was great, but when he ran off, it reminded me of Red in “Friday” when he runs to the car.
🇧🇷 Absolutely loved that Hermès as the community elder who guides everyone, a messenger. A great nod to the Greek god.
In conclusion shawties, Marpessa and Breno were FINE, I need to dive into Camus’ catalog, and I need to visit Brazil during Carnaval at some point in my life.