Brazilian Mario Peixoto was 22 years old when he wrote, produced and directed his two-hour film, May 1931 "Limite." It was his movie-making debut, but Peixoto's eventual classic turned out to be his last. "Limite" premiered in Rio de Janeiro and had two additional showings with mixed results. Some viewers loved it, others greeted the movie with a big yawn. The feature film wasn't able to find a distributer, and it slowly faded into obscurity.
Except for Orson Welles. While in Brazil in 1942 producing a good-will film for the United States government encouraging South America to side with the Allies during World War Two, the director saw "Limite" and loved it. France's Renee Jeanne Falconetti, star of Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1928 classic "The Passion of Joan of Arc," relocated to Brazil during the war, saw Peixoto's movie and was equally laudative about his film. The avant garde movie about two women and one man caught in the middle of the ocean on a lifeboat with no hope of being saved has been voted as the greatest movie ever produced in Brazilian cinema. The Brazilian Film Critics Association, whose country has a rich history of releasing some of cinema's finest movies, in 2015 announced "Limite" as the top pick polled by its members.
Peixoto came from a wealthy Brazilian family, and was given the best education money could buy in both his native country and in England. On his return to Brazil, he joined a theater group, where members formed the Chaplin Club in 1928. Peixoto, whose interest reverted to cinema, returned to Europe to study film production. He was inspired to make "Limite" when he happened to see a cover of VU magazine in a Paris newsstand showing a woman's face with a man's hands handcuffed together, and proceeded to write the film's outline. Back in Brazil, he hired cameraman (Edgar Brazil) and a group of actors to be in his self-financed movie. "Limite" relies on flashbacks on the three primary people, one an escapee from prison, and the other two, an unhappy couple caught in an oppressive marriage.
"Limite" was lost to obscurity well after Welles drew notice of the film. One single nitrate print was found in 1959, and for the next 20 years the film, partially decomposed, was restored frame by frame. Once it was shown in its restored form, the intelligentsia heaped praise on the movie, stating Peixoto was able to explain the human condition like no one else. Saulo Pereira del Mello, who spent years restoring the film, said, "Limite is a cosmic tragedy, a cry of anguish, a piercing meditation on human limitations, a painful and icy acknowledgment of human defeat. It is a tragic film, a glacial tragedy."
After making "Limite," Peixoto continuously made efforts to produce additional films, but he encountered roadblocks on every project he started. He turned to writing, scratching out a living after selling his parents' properties, and died in February 1992. But his legacy lives on, not only as the creator of the greatest Brazilian film ever made, but in his inclusion in the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" reference book.
Except for Orson Welles. While in Brazil in 1942 producing a good-will film for the United States government encouraging South America to side with the Allies during World War Two, the director saw "Limite" and loved it. France's Renee Jeanne Falconetti, star of Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1928 classic "The Passion of Joan of Arc," relocated to Brazil during the war, saw Peixoto's movie and was equally laudative about his film. The avant garde movie about two women and one man caught in the middle of the ocean on a lifeboat with no hope of being saved has been voted as the greatest movie ever produced in Brazilian cinema. The Brazilian Film Critics Association, whose country has a rich history of releasing some of cinema's finest movies, in 2015 announced "Limite" as the top pick polled by its members.
Peixoto came from a wealthy Brazilian family, and was given the best education money could buy in both his native country and in England. On his return to Brazil, he joined a theater group, where members formed the Chaplin Club in 1928. Peixoto, whose interest reverted to cinema, returned to Europe to study film production. He was inspired to make "Limite" when he happened to see a cover of VU magazine in a Paris newsstand showing a woman's face with a man's hands handcuffed together, and proceeded to write the film's outline. Back in Brazil, he hired cameraman (Edgar Brazil) and a group of actors to be in his self-financed movie. "Limite" relies on flashbacks on the three primary people, one an escapee from prison, and the other two, an unhappy couple caught in an oppressive marriage.
"Limite" was lost to obscurity well after Welles drew notice of the film. One single nitrate print was found in 1959, and for the next 20 years the film, partially decomposed, was restored frame by frame. Once it was shown in its restored form, the intelligentsia heaped praise on the movie, stating Peixoto was able to explain the human condition like no one else. Saulo Pereira del Mello, who spent years restoring the film, said, "Limite is a cosmic tragedy, a cry of anguish, a piercing meditation on human limitations, a painful and icy acknowledgment of human defeat. It is a tragic film, a glacial tragedy."
After making "Limite," Peixoto continuously made efforts to produce additional films, but he encountered roadblocks on every project he started. He turned to writing, scratching out a living after selling his parents' properties, and died in February 1992. But his legacy lives on, not only as the creator of the greatest Brazilian film ever made, but in his inclusion in the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" reference book.