Based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, director Marcel Camus (A Savage Summer) transposes the story into the twentieth century setting it during Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. 

CRITIQUE

How can one not love Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro)? Marcel Camus takes a Greek myth and gives it electricity and life, the stunning cinematography mixing with the raucous score to create a masterpiece. This was a movie going in I new almost nothing about. After it was over, all I wanted to do was watch it again. This is the king of motion picture a person could both fawn over studying every single aspect as well as just sit back, relax and enjoy, everything about it so timelessly flawless it put me into a state of pure bliss as I watched it

What else is there to say? Breno Mello is a ravishingly masculine and sexy Orfeo, while Marpessa Dawn oozes a form of chaste sexuality as the object of his affections Eurydice. The romance in this film is sensual and erotic but at the same time charming and innocent, and while Camus does make Rio look a bit like a nonstop party town the underlying emotional traumas faced by its many characters keeps things grounded and believable.

But less is more when talking about Black Orpheus. For those unfamiliar with the Greek myth, the film still works as a star-crossed romance filled with music and dance. For those who are, watching Camus transpose things to such a richly colorful setting with so many interesting and varied characters just gives the source material that much more resonance and meaning. Either way, this is the director’s masterpiece, and as such it is one film I can’t begin to recommend more.

THE VIDEO

Black Orpheus is presented in on a 50GB dual-layer disc encoded with MPEG-4 AVC in a 1.33:1/1080p aspect ratio (its original aspect ratio was 1.37:1) in a brand new, digitally restored high-definition transfer. As I’ve never seen the film before now I cannot speak about earlier editions of the film. What I will say is that the picture quality on the Blu-ray is positively stunning. While signs of aging are present, colors are still rich and satisfying busting off the screen most of the time.

THE AUDIO

The film is presented in Portuguese LPCM Mono and English Dolby Digital Mono with optional English subtitles. I only watched the film with the original Portuguese audio track and I was suitably impressed. A very nice job here by the folks over at the Criterion Collection.

THE EXTRAS

As per usual, Criterion has offered up a lot of worthy extras. These include:

• Archival Interviews with director Marcel Camus and actress Marpessa Dawn
• New Interviews with Brazilian cinema scholar Robert Stam, jazz historian Gary Giddins and Brazilian author Ruy Castro
• Looking for “Black Orpheus” Documentary
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Collectible Booklet featuring an essay by film critic Michael Atkinson 

While all of these extras are great, my favorite two had to be the new collection of interviews with Stam, Giddings and Castro as well as that 90-minute French documentary looking back at the film’s making and genesis. The archival interviews are also quite strong, while Atkinson’s essay gave me much to think about before I sat down to watch Black Orpheus for a second time. All-in-all, this is a strong group of extras worthy of the Criterion label.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I loved Black Orpheus. It was a movie that made me feel happy in so many different ways I can’t begin to describe them all. Criterion’s Blu-ray presentation is exemplary, and I can’t urge those interested in the title enough to head out to the store or over to Amazon in order to pick it up immediately.