Trance and deconstruction: repetition of bodily performance in Copacabana mon amour and A idade da terra

Abstract

Despite the quarrels between their directors and the almost ten years that separate them, there are many close links between the films Copacabana mon amour (1970), by Rogério Sganzerla, and A idade da terra (1980), by Glauber Rocha. Among the various elements that magnetize one film towards the other, the performance of the bodies on stage marked by excessive repetitions of both gestures and speech stands out. The aim of this article is, through comparative analysis, to investigate how the two films elaborate repetition both in the sense of apprehending the mystical trance, a central element for Sganzerla's film, and in the sense of deconstructing the very progress of the filmic discourse, something more prominent in Glauber's film, fundamental issues for the allegory they construct.

Keywords
repetition; trance; Glauber Rocha; Rogério Sganzerla; Brazilian cinema