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Orfeu

Play trailer Poster for Orfeu Released Apr 21, 1999 1h 52m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
36% Tomatometer 14 Reviews 55% Popcornmeter 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).

Critics Reviews

View All (14) Critics Reviews
Globe and Mail Rated: 2.5/4 Mar 18, 2002 Full Review 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 Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (21) audience reviews
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 Żałosny film. To że nie dostał ode mnie jedynie pół gwiazdki, to zasługa tylko i wyłącznie Rio. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Technically, Cacá 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 Quzás no es de las mejores películas, pero me gusta mucho que muestra como es el tema de la preparación del carnaval, como en las favelas todos se organizan y gastan grandes sumas de dinero para vivir una fantasía que dura sólo 1 noche para volver después a la vida real ... recomendada : ) Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Orfeu

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

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
Producer
Daniel Filho, Paula Lavigne, Renata Almeida Magalhães
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
Brazilian Portuguese
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)