Brazilian Theatre Company Films the 'Biggest Orgy of Brazilian Cinema'

01/05/2016 - 10h29

Unless there is some obscure "pornochanchada" - a Brazilian sexploitation movie - to dethrone them, it is quite possible that the Satyros will win the title for the biggest orgy of Brazilian cinema.

In one of the scenes of the movie "A Filosofia na Alcova" (Philosophy in the Bedroom), with no release date yet, more than 60 people fill the screen, squeezed between sadomasochistic paraphernalia and showing a lot of skin.

	Andre Stefano/Divulgação
	More than 60 people fill the screen, squeezed between sadomasochistic paraphernalia and showing a lot of skin.

"We announced in the social networks, and people showed up," says Ivam Cabral.

He co-directs the movie with Rodolfo García Vázquez. "The idea was not to make an explicit movie, but the actors got really involved; some fucked for real."

Cabral and Vázquez are the founders of the 23-year experimental theatre company Satyros, from São Paulo. This is the group's second foray into the cinema after "Hypothesis for Love and Truth" (2013).

"Philosophy in the Bedroom" takes to the screen a novel published clandestinely by the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) about two libertines that purport to give sex education to a virgin girl.

The novel takes place amid the ideological boiling of revolutionary France: on bedroom divans, concepts like "submission" and "position" go from rhetoric to any type of sexual practice.

"Libertinage is the only way to know the true essence of life", teaches one of the characters.

Much of the cast is member of the company and these actors play in the theatre the same parts. The play was a milestone in the 1990's and can still be seen - with other actors - at the group's headquarters, at Roosevelt Square, São Paulo.

"Sade became our great reference in theatre. We wanted that in the cinema too, "says Cabral, who also wrote the film and sang on the soundtrack.

'Hot'
In the feature film, the world outside the bedroom wins the ochre tones of São Paulo. One of the libertines, dressed in 18-century costumes, flies over Paraisópolis slum in a helicopter. A carriage pulled by slave twins goes across the centre and a limo, those rented for 15 year old parties, carries many naked youngsters.

"We wanted to get away from the realism that marks Brazilian cinema. Our theatrical language is another. Therefore, there is a mix of references, "says Vázquez.

According to him, the production ran in guerrilla scheme: the helicopter belongs to the father of one of the actresses, the factory used as bedroom, to the father of another.

"Filming 'Hypothesis' was like college: we didn't know how to release a movie," he says.

They plan to shoot another group's text, "Pessoas Perfeitas" (Perfect People), in 2016. "Philosophy" may be in festivals before going to theatres.

"We know that it won't be in the big theatres," says Vazquez. "It's not a commercial film, despite being very hot, right?"

Translated by JULIANA CALDERARI
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