Orfeu

Released Apr 21, 1999

1h 52m

Drama

List

36%

Tomatometer

14 Reviews

53%

Audience Score

1,000+ Ratings

"Orfeu" retells the tale of the Greek mythical love affair between Orfeu and Euridice. In the film, Orfeu, a legendary musician and lyricist, is loved by all. His music is powerful enough to make the sun rise and compels everyone to listen. Orfeu leads a mystical existence and holds a position of high esteem in the shantytown community known as Morro da Carioca (Carioca Hill).

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Globe and Mail

Rated: 2.5/4

Mar 18, 2002

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Toronto Star

Rated: 2/4

Mar 16, 2002

Full Review

Marjorie Baumgarten

Austin Chronicle

Rated: 2/5

Feb 14, 2001

Full Review

Rob Gonsalves

Rob's Movie Vault

Colorful and vibrant, painting its story with bold, operatic strokes.

Rated: A

May 27, 2006

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 3/5

Jul 2, 2005

Full Review

Paula Nechak

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Rated: C

Apr 3, 2002

Full Review

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Audience Member

Imagine Romeo+Juliet but twenty times sillier and in Portuguese. That's basically this movie. There's a full two minute scene where SPOILER three characters mourn the death of Orfeu. One does a strange yelp/scream thing, one whistles, and one bashes his knees. FOR TWO MINUTES. The music's pretty good, though; I mean, it is Caetano Veloso.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Å»aÅosny film. To Å¼e nie dostaÅ ode mnie jedynie pÃ³Å gwiazdki, to zasÅuga tylko i wyÅÄcznie Rio.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Technically, CacÃ¡ Diegues' Orfeu is not neasrly so well-made as the original. It is rarely artful and sometimes suffers from a novela-esque cheesiness. Still, even with a heavy dose of magic that refers back to the mythological origins of the story, it comes much closer to reality than the original. The characters are real figures who face the unfortunate realities of modern Brazil. The favela houses a mixture of the desperately poor and the middle class and the residents are faced with the daily realities of the corrupt police, depressed wages, and the drug lord who rules the favela. It is a tender homage to the original play and a forceful attempt to reclaim the tale from the famous French film that created a make-believe Brazil in which the poor are happy as long as they can samba their way through life with a smile and a song. There are still a lot of songs (including many from the original) but the music has been updated to include funk carioca and other genres that directly address the realities of favela life. Still, "A felicidade" from the original never sugar-coated the truth--it always understood that people worked hard the entire year for just one moment of a dream. What the original film failed to understand that Diegues picked up on was the brevity of that dream, the happiness that is "like a drop of dew".

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I enjoyed this movie. I spent 8 months in Brazil in 1975 and have a love of Brazilian films and music. This move is a romantic tragedy based on the Orfeus Myth and possible even the older Orpheus Brazilian movie. The movie has some failings and I did not particularly care for the slum/ drug war setting. The Plot is kind of weak and timid and is over dramatized. However Great Music Great scenes of Rio (and the slums) and all in all not a bad story. I enjoyed seeing the streets of Rio from the richness of Carnival to the life in the slums. All told I rate this a great remake of the original Brazilian film, and even with all its faults I highly recommended it!! Four Stars!! The film is worth seeing just for the fantastic music of Cateano Veloso and the Carnival Parade Scenes!! Lago

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The barrio life they showed was cool - it had some colorful characters. But the main guy really sucked.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

QuzÃ¡s no es de las mejores pelÃculas, pero me gusta mucho que muestra como es el tema de la preparaciÃ³n del carnaval, como en las favelas todos se organizan y gastan grandes sumas de dinero para vivir una fantasÃa que dura sÃ³lo 1 noche para volver despuÃ©s a la vida real ... recomendada : )

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

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Carlos Diegues

Director

Toni Garrido

Orfeu

Patrícia França

Eurídice

Murilo Benício

Lucinho

Zezé Motta

Conceição

Milton Gonçalves

Inácio

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Synopsis

"Orfeu" retells the tale of the Greek mythical love affair between Orfeu and Euridice. In the film, Orfeu, a legendary musician and lyricist, is loved by all. His music is powerful enough to make the sun rise and compels everyone to listen. Orfeu leads a mystical existence and holds a position of high esteem in the shantytown community known as Morro da Carioca (Carioca Hill).

Director: Carlos Diegues
Screenwriter: João Emanuel Carneiro, Vinicius de Moraes, Carlos Diegues, Paulo Lins, Hamilton Vaz Pereira, Hermano Vianna
Distributor: New Yorker Films
Production Co: Globo Filmes, Rio Vermelho Filmes Ltda., Cine-Source
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Portuguese (Brazil)
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 21, 1999, Original
Box Office (Gross USA): $121.0K
Runtime: 1h 52m
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, DTS, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)