Pereira prétend

A thoughtful story, impeccably acted, free from cinematic cliche, holding the attention at every moment, raising a few smiles, and lingering long in the memory. What more could a discerning filmgoer want? Good music? It's got that too (Dulce Pontes).

Mastroianni brings magisterially to life the outwardly grey and unremarkable literary journalist of the title - a widower approaching retirement age who lives on nostalgic memories of his wife, with whose photo he habitually converses, and tries to ignore the increasingly unpalatable turn things are taking around him owing to the rise of fascism (we're in late-30s Lisbon). His prudent, mild-mannered apoliticism comes under threat when he employs a naive and passionate Italian rebel as an obituary-writer, then discovers that his own generous human instincts oblige him reluctantly to intervene when the young Italian gets into trouble and has to go on the run from the authorities. Thus, he finds himself being drawn into political commitment in spite of his own instincts and lifelong habits - a transition he cannot explain even to himself except in terms of a picturesque philosophical theory ("community of souls") offered by his doctor (a sympathetic and amusing secondary character).

The film's memorable moments are many, including a grotesque reconstruction of fascist propaganda being shown at a cinema, a couple of finely-observed encounters between Pereira and his craven, dull-witted boss, and an unforgettable scene in which Pereira is forced to witness at first hand the sneering, lumpen brutality of Portugal's new fascist rulers (an event that finally prods him into taking decisive, if ultimately little more than symbolic, action).

This movie presents a struggle between opposing forces within the individual, with kindness and generosity ranged against prudent self-interest and force of habit, and it does so with delicacy and finesse.

No knowledge of Portugal's history is required or assumed, though it /is/ assumed that viewers will understand references to the Spanish Civil War and will be able to place the phenomenon of European fascism in some sort of historical/conceptual context. Period "feel" and locations are expertly re-created. All in all, a very creditable piece of film-making that stands up well to repeated viewings.

For those to whom it matters, this film has a very fine Ennio Morricone score, elegant, rhythmic and with prominent classical guitar and a touch of Fado styling. It also marks Morricone's first collaboration with Dulce Pontes, the magnificent Portugese Fado singer who sings the hell out of a theme in this film called "A Brisa do Coracao."

After this collaboration, Pontes occasionally started singing on Morricone's live orchestral concerts throughout Europe, and they made a wonderful album together in 2003 called "Focus", in which Ms. Pontes sings vocal versions (in Portugese, Italian and English) of 15 Morricone film melodies with the maestro arranging and conducting. Surprisingly, "A Brisa do Coracao" is not among them. But while Ms. Pontes has enjoyed a huge following in Portugal, her work on this film with Morricone was the gateway to a far larger international career, which she certainly richly deserves.

I'm a bit disappointed by this movie adaptation of Antonio Tabucchi's Sostiene Pereira (Pereira declares), an Italian modern classic novel about an old Portuguese journalist who decides to not stand watching but to intervene, in his own little way, in a difficult historic moment (the story is set in 1938, on the eve of WWII), compromising himself. It's a great story of heroism and courage. What I didn't like about the movie is the key adopted to tell the story, I find it too comic and slight compared to the importance of the matter dealt in the book, the novel's tone is serious, Mr Pereira is a dramatic character, whereas the Pereira played by Mastroianni is excessively tragicomic to my way of thinking; there's a few hilarious moments in the book but they never appear as forced as they do in the movie. In general the story's register is gloomy, however this gloominess was lost in the movie.

Nicoletta Braschi is another reason why I didn't like this movie, she's absolutely terrible in it, she drones on all her cues, she seems to be reading a shopping list all the time!

The score composed by Ennio Morricone suffers from the same misunderstanding that affects the movie in general: the interpretation key is wrong for me, this kind of musical approach would have been more fit for a comedy than for a drama, it's a sort of funny piped music with no substance, it's absolutely unable to play the dramatic sequences up. Nevertheless what's in the book you find in the movie, the message is safe but where's the spirit? where's the atmosphere? All that remains of the book is its didactic value, but I think there's much more in it.

The only sequence where I found the book spirit is that one set on the train, where Mrs Delgado (Marthe Keller) asks Pereira to not stand watching but to act in any way he can.

I'm not going to bore you with how good Mastroianni and Auteuil are, or with the beautiful soundtrack (especially A Brisa do Coracao). I'd just skip to the flaws of the movie, which is to say the young mains leads: Monteiro and Marta (Dionisi and Braschi). Their acting here is very weird, artificial and unappealing. This kind of ruins the mood since you're supposed to side with them. The pacing is also somewhat clunky.

Still, I gave it 7 stars because it's a good movie in general, with a fine soundtrack.

A quite good film version of the novel, though at the beginning a little bit lengthy. Fortunately there are a few funny scenes from time to time. This movie is surely not for the main stream audience - but for fans of Italian (or Portuguese) cinema, a must-see also for Mastroianni-fans.