''How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman'' () is a
Brazilian black comedy
Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...
directed and co-written by
Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Nelson Pereira dos Santos (22 October 1928 21 April 2018) was a Brazilian film director. He directed films such as ''Vidas secas (film), Vidas Secas'' (Barren Lives, 1963), based on the Vidas Secas, book with the same name by Brazilian writer G ...
released in
1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
.
Almost all of the dialogue in the film was written in the
Tupi language. The actors and actresses who portrayed the Tupinambas wore historically correct attire, resulting in a considerable amount of historically correct nudity and semi-nudity in many scenes.
The location for the entire film was the Bay of
Ilha Grande
Ilha Grande (), or "big island", is a forested island located around 12 km (7.5 mi) off of the Atlantic coast of Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and about 243 km (151 mi) from São Paulo. The highest point on Ilha Grande is the tall Pic ...
, which has 365 islands and whose shores comprise the
Angra dos Reis
Angra dos Reis (; Portuguese language, Portuguese for ''cove'' or ''bay of the Kings'') is a List of municipalities in Rio de Janeiro, municipality located in the southern part of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro. Th ...
and
Parati municipalities in the state of
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
.
Plot
In
16th century Brazil rival
French and
Portuguese settlers are utilizing the indigenous people as allies in their struggle to establish control. The
Tupinambás, who live in the
Guanabara Bay
Guanabara Bay (, , ) is an oceanic bay in Southeast Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro. On its western shore lie the cities of Rio de Janeiro (city), Rio de Janeiro and Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro, Duque de Caxias, a ...
area, are allied with the French, while the
Tupiniquins are allied with the Portuguese.
A Frenchman who has been captured by the Portuguese is then captured by the Tupinambás after they attack and kill a group of Portuguese. He tries to convince his captors by speaking in French (reciting the poem by
Étienne Jodelle
Étienne Jodelle, seigneur de Limodin (; 1532July 1573), French dramatist and poet, was born and died in Paris of a noble family.
Member of La Pléiade, he will strive to revitalize the principles of ancient Greek and Roman theater during the R ...
found in
André Thévet's ''Singularities of France Antarctique'') but the Tupinambás do not believe that the Frenchman was a prisoner of the Portuguese they have killed, and the chief thinks he is Portuguese because "No Frenchman would shoot at the Tupinambá." The tribe's shaman predicted they would find a strong Portuguese man to cannibalize as revenge for the chief's brother being killed by a Portuguese musket ball. Now they have one.
However, the Frenchman is allowed free run of the village area, is eventually provided with a "wife," and adopts traditional Tupinambá nudity in place of his Western clothes.
A French tradesman comes to the village and tells the Tupinambás that their prisoner is indeed Portuguese – he then promises the outraged Frenchman that he will tell the Tupinambás the truth if the Frenchman finds a hidden treasure that another European has hidden in the area. He also instructs him to collect wood, and pepper for him on his return.
The Frenchman gathers cannon powder from the abandoned Portuguese cannons, and brings it to the Tupinambás, who use it to defeat the rival Tupiniquins in battle.
The relationship between the Frenchman and his Tupinambá "wife" remains enigmatic. It is unclear for most of the movie if she intends to save him from the group that wants to eat him, or if she has been assigned to win his trust and prevent him from escaping. The Frenchman appears to become in love with her but eventually decides to try to leave. She keeps him from escaping by swamping his canoe and then shooting him in the leg with an arrow. He is then taken to meet his fate of being ritually killed and eaten.
In the last seconds of his life, the Frenchman refuses to play along with the ceremonial script that the Tupinambás expect him to follow and instead angrily (and loudly) tells the Tupinambás that his death will not revitalize them (as his death and the subsequent cannibal feast is intended to do) but rather will doom them all to extermination.
The movie ends with a postscript that reveals the rival Tupiniquim were later exterminated by their supposed allies, the Portuguese.
Cast
*
ArduÃno Colassanti - The Frenchman
*
Ana Maria Magalhães - Seboipepe
*
Eduardo Imbassahy Filho - Cunhambebe
*
Manfredo Colassanti - The tradesman
*
José Kléber - Ipiraguaçu
*
Gabriel Archanjo - Mbiratata
Reception
Awards and nominations
The film was selected as the Brazilian entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film at the
45th Academy Awards
The 45th Academy Awards were presented Tuesday, March 27, 1973, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, honoring the best films of 1972. The ceremonies were presided over by Carol Burnett, Michael Caine, Charlton Heston, an ...
, but was not accepted as a nominee.
[Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]
1971
Festival de BrasÃlia
The Festival de BrasÃlia (BrasÃlia Film Festival), officially the Festival de BrasÃlia do Cinema Brasileiro, is a film festival held in BrasÃlia, Brazil. Known as Semana do Cinema Brasileiro (''Brazilian Film Week'') during the first two editi ...
*Best Screenplay (Nelson Pereira dos Santos)
*Best Dialog (Nelson Pereira dos Santos and Humberto Mauro)
*Best Cenograph (Régis Monteiro)
Berlin Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...
*
Golden Bear
The Golden Bear () is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival and is, along with the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion, the most important international film festival award. The bear is the heraldic an ...
(nominated)
1973 São Paulo Association of Art Critics Awards
*Most Promising Actress (
Ana Maria Magalhães)
See also
*
List of submissions to the 45th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
*
List of Brazilian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
*
Human cannibalism
Human cannibalism is the act or practice of Human, humans eating the Meat, flesh or internal organs of other human beings. A person who practices cannibalism is called a cannibal. The meaning of "cannibalism" has been extended into zoology to ...
References
External links
*
Rotten TomatoesYahoo! Movies
{{Brazilian submission for Academy Awards
1971 black comedy films
1971 films
1970s historical comedy films
Brazilian historical comedy films
Brazilian black comedy films
Films directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Films shot in Paraty
1970s Portuguese-language films
Tupi-language films
Films about cannibalism
Films set in the 1590s
1970s Brazilian films