Night Train to Lisbon

In Bern, Switzerland, the teacher Raimund Gregorius (Jeremy Irons) saves a young woman from committing suicide jumping off a bridge and brings her to the school where he works. During his class, she leaves the building and Raimund unsuccessfully runs after her to give her coat back. He finds a book, "Um Ourives das Palavras" (A Goldsmith of the Words) written by the Portuguese Amadeu de Almeida Prado (Jack Huston) in the pocket and he goes to the bookstore stamped on the first page and discovers that the book was sold on the previous day to the woman. He finds a train ticket to Lisbon that will departure in fifteen minutes inside the book and he goes to the Central Station expecting to find the woman. He embarks in the train to Lisbon and reads the book, becoming fascinated with the story. When he arrives in Lisbon, Raimund decides to stay in the city to meet Amadeu. He finds his house, where his sister Adriana (Charlotte Rampling) lives, and soon he discovers that Amadeu is dead. Raimund decides to research the life of Amadeu, who was a doctor and writer that belonged to the resistance against the dictator Salazar, and his discoveries affect his own boring life.

"Night Train to Lisbon" is a movie with a tedious beginning, when the lead character leaves his students in their classroom and travels to Lisbon in a senseless situation. Then there is serendipity, when he has an accident and breaks his glasses, and the doctor introduces him to her uncle that was a friend of Amadeu. But the development of the plot like a puzzle and the open conclusion are excellent and makes worthwhile watching this movie. The excellent European cast is another great attraction. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Trem Noturno para Lisboa" ("Night Train to Lisbon")

Night Train to Lisbon (2013)

A remarkable movie, with shades of magic and threads of a true national angst still resolving in contemporary Portugal. I just returned from a visit there and can sense some vestige of another era in the buildings, but not in the people. The era of dictatorship is no longer visible to the tourist.

But that is the meat of the movie, set after Salazar's long reign, and with the aftermath of memories and lost ones still mourned. But it's all told (based on a novel by a Swiss writer) as if in a dream, or in an individual's search through imprecise information and people who don't always talk about it the way you might expect. It's a series of small surprises, elegantly wrought.

So in all these ways it's a powerful movie. It's small and intimate, however, not an epic about this great turning point in Portuguese history. In a way it's appropriate, because I found the people there less exuberant and more contemplative than the Spaniards next door. There are always a million reasons for such things—climate, outside cultural influences, etc.—but it's so true that the movie is actually terribly honest. It reveals the truth, in little facets, and never complete.

The star certainly is Jeremy Irons, who plays the leading role with tenderness and quiet certitude. He's terrific, and perfect for this part. Also appearing is Charlotte Rampling who has a knack for small, odd, but critical roles in offbeat movies. The cast is wide, and in the many flashbacks the characters gradually intersect in different ways, revealing their personal connections to the political strife of the times.

Good stuff? Excellent stuff! I liked it more than I expected to. It's slow at times, and maybe (if you are not paying attention) a hair confusing, but give it a go if you are inclined at all. A serious, brooding but not depressing drama about, in the end, relationship. As all the best movies are.

A good story with a good cast, told in a nice way for everyone to feel, experience and ask himself questions about life. Life as encounters, as crashes and as sharing - sharing moments, sharing places, sharing memories.

A friend says: "Only the people that are alive and have the memory of you can be the true witnesses of your existence on Earth, otherwise - have we been really alive?!...".

You meet people every day in your life, but it is just when you collide with them - voluntarily or not, when they share their life with you and you share yours with them.

I encourage you to take this train. Its worth it! :)

I should start by saying if you're older (say 45 or more) you should definitely check out this movie. It has some lines in it that are extraordinary and it's worth seeing just for those nuggets. This is one of those movies that talks to you at a personal level. I don't want to describe too much of it because that would ruin the whole point.

But, I will say...

The director moves you along at such a perfect pace that you almost feel like you're floating. The topics aren't casual but he hovers over them at just the right height.

The acting is right on the money, it suits the movie perfectly, no one is out of step.

The story moves seamlessly between past and present, you won't feel a bump anywhere. It's true, the movie is multi-layered, but the straight up story is more than enough.

And the ending is perfect for this type of movie.

It really is worth the watch, but as I mentioned you might need to be a little older to really...

I found this movie more like a great book, the pace was such that you could synchronize with the dialogue and think about what was going on. I was only vaguely aware that there had been a dictatorship in Portugal during the 70s so this was an important revelation. I did know that Portugal was slowly pulling out of its various foreign colonial possessions, as most European powers did after World War II.

I could not help thinking of there being a connection between Amadeu de Prado and the world famous Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa. The shots of Lisbon are wonderful, the beautiful harbour and hilly narrow streets. I could imagine Vasco da Gama's fleet leaving the port during Portugal's period of world exploration. The acting was superb, Jeremy Irons was the perfect Prof. On the surface absent minded and intellectual, but in practice, seizing the moment with an iron courage to probe the truth no matter where it led, but with a sense of humour knowing that nothing in life is all black or white. Martina Gedeck was so believable and you like her more and more with each shot. Tom Courtney's performance as João Eça was amazing but scary when you realize what happens to ordinary people during extraordinary times.

Many themes are encountered such as friendship, betrayal, and life as a chaotic process without any divine guidance. My hope is at the end of the film our professor needed a second adjustment for his new glasses.