Um mito exótico? A recepção crítica de Orfeu Negro de Marcel Camus (1959-2008)

Abstract

Winner of the Palme d’Or in 1959, Black Orpheus by Marcel Camus, also known as Orfeu Negro and Orfeu do carnaval, obtained an ambiguous critical reception. If, on the one hand, the success of the movie gave an impulse to the divulgation of Brazilian music and cinema on the 60’s, on the other hand, it was severely criticized in the name of the authenticity of the Brazilian popular culture. The analysis of the production’s documents and the film critics published in Europe and Americas, invites us to revalue the role of the movie in the cultural exchanges between Brazil, France and United States. The hypothesis defended here is that Black Orpheus, despite the formal and ideological critic, is a first class document for the study of the carioca cultural scene of the late 50’s, and the story of cultural transfers.