Influential Brazilian filmmaker Arnaldo Jabor, a leading figure of Brazilian cinema whose work received critical acclaim on the international festival circuit, passed away today in São Paulo at age 81. According to reports from his family, Jabor died of complications related to a stroke for which he’d been hospitalized since last December .
Best known for his award-winning films All Nudity Shall Be Punished / Toda Nudez Será Castigada, which won the Silver Bear at the 1973 Berlin Film Festival, and Love Me Forever or Never / Eu Sei Que Vou Te Amar, winner of the Best Actress Award at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival for a lead performance by Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres, Jabor was also a noted author, columnist and political commentator.
Born on December 12, 1940 in Rio de Janeiro, Jabor had a fruitful career across cinema, literature, and journalism. He became part of the Cinema Novo movement which emerged in the late 1960s to reflect the social realities of Brazil with his 1967 documentary feature A Public Opinion /A Opinião Pública, which is a portrait of Rio de Janeiro’s middle class in the sixties when the country was going through a difficult political moment, featuring interviews with people in the street who talk about their fears, aspirations and political alienation.
Three years later, he made his fiction debut feature Pindorama, which was selected in the official competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1971. Starring Maurício do Valle, Ítala Nandi, Jesú Pingo, and Hugo Carvana, the film is set in an imaginary Brazilian city in the 16th century and is an allegory about the origins of the formation of the country, mixing wars, and the diverse population of the country.
In 1973 he premiered his acclaimed film All Nudity Shall Be Punished, which was based on a play by Nelson Rodrigues. The film, which in addition to the Berlinale also screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section at Cannes, tells the story of the devoutly religious widower Herculano, who is facing with a dilemma when his brother attempts to help him move on by arranging for him to meet with a prostitute. Despite the memory of his wife, Herculano falls for the beautiful Geni, causing a major uproar in the family, especially in the eyes of his son, Serginho.
Jabor’s 1981 film I Love You, starring iconic Brazilian actress Sônia Braga, was also selected in the Un Certain Regard category at Cannes. The film tells the story of mysterious Maria, who shakes bra-maker Paulo from his decadent lifestyle in Brazil. In 1986, Jabor returned once again to the official competition at Cannes with Love Me Forever or Never, about a young and recently separated couple that meet to discuss their past relationship.
Apart from his work as an influential director, he is remembered in his home country for his acerbic take on Brazilian reality as a commentator on Globo Television, the country's leading broadcast network, and as a columnist for the newspaper O Globo.
"In his films and writing, [Jabor] sought to observe Brazilian society, understand its paradoxes and criticize its hypocrisies," O Globo noted in an obituary published today reflecting on his more than five-decades-long career.
Jabor shot his final film, My Last Desire / Meu Ultimo Desejo, shortly before the coronavirus pandemic began. It has yet to be released.
