Night Train to Lisbon (2013)

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")

Fmovies: 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.

The above statement goes against the philosophy of "Night Train to Lisbon," but that's because I don't agree with the philosophy. My opinion does not take away from this beautiful film because of course, events can be viewed in many different ways.

Jeremy Irons plays Raimund Gregorius, a Swiss Professor. One gets the impression that he leads a well-ordered and probably boring life. On his way to work one morning, he sees a woman about to jump off of a bridge, and he tackles her to the ground. She asks if she can walk with him, which she does, and sits in his schoolroom for a while. Then he notices her leaving. He runs from his classroom and follows her. In her coat, which she has left behind, he finds a train ticket to Lisbon and a book by Amadeu Prado. The train leaves in fifteen minutes. Raimund races to the station, but the girl is nowhere in sight. He boards the train.

Raimund becomes enchanted by Amadeu's writings and wants to find out more about him and meet him. He registers at a hotel, buys some clothes, and starts asking questions and looking for Amadeu.

What he finds is a fascinating story that took place during the Portuguese resistance to the dictator Salazar, It concerns some young people, Amadeu (Jack Huston), his best friend Joao (played as an adult by Tom Courtenay), Jorge (August Diehl/Bruno Ganz), and Estefania (Melanie Laurent/Lena Olin), and their lives then and now.

With the help of his eye doctor Mariana (Martina Gedeck), a priest (Christopher Lee), and others, Raimund puts the pieces of their story together. In doing so, he begins to question his own life and choices. As he tells Mariana, "They lived." He asks himself, has he?

The beauty of Portugal is ever-present in this film, underlying the emotional and suspenseful scenes as Raimund learns the different threads of the story. Jack Huston, so mysterious and sad as the wounded war vet in "Boardwalk Empire," is a completely different character here. He's physically beautiful, gentle, and idealistic. The acting is marvelous, as is Bille August's direction.

This is not a bombastic, blow-up, CGI movie. It moves at a steady pace, not a breakneck one as it explores these people's lives and the writings of Amadeu, and as Raimund talks about randomness and chance. His involvement does indeed seem random, but I was left with a feeling that he was where he was supposed to be, learning what he needed to learn in order to live a fuller life. Whether life is random or not is something none of us know. I do know this is a wonderful, atmospheric film.

Night Train to Lisbon fmovies. 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...

An unforeseeable and dramatic encounter puts in the hands of Raimond Gregorius, a Latin professor in a Berne school, a booklet written by a Portuguese writer. Starting to read the booklet, Gregorius realise that these writings are a door to a universe in which he will find a key to his own existence. The booklet was found in the pocket of the raincoat of a young Portuguese lady that Gregorius rescued from suicide on the Kirchenfeld bridge, a few hours before, and who walked away without leaving any information about herself. Trying to find the girl, Gregorius finds a ticket for a night train to Lisbon, for this same night, in the booklet. Gregorius goes to the train station in an attempt to meet the girl there, and don't find her. As the train starts to move on, he decides in an impulse to take it, to go to Lisbon, to meet the author of the booklet. Gregorius search makes him discover the life of the author, the relationships of the author with his entourage and with the political context in which Portugal was immersed at that time (the dark and awful years of the dictatorship of Salazar). As this discovery goes on, Gregorius goes discovering himself and sewing an outcome to a story which had remained unfinished. This conclusion is also true for Gregorius who discovers also an outcome for his existence. Most of the actors are not Portuguese, yet each one is quite convincing in his respective role. Gregorius discovery of himself is absolutely exciting. The references to the years of the dictatorship in Portugal is welcome in a world where most of the history is forgotten.

This European movie too, is so subtle in its depiction of life. It seems that I too flew with the story slowly in time, along with the professor, as he went from a boring uneventful life to embark on an adventure of his lifetime, in his old age. I find this peaceful story telling, not losing any of the minutest details, keeping the audience captivated, and doing all of this without the loudness and noisiness of current age mainstream movies, Hollywood and Bollywood included, great relief and source of utmost pleasure and relishment! Don't know why this is rated as low as 6 on IMDb. I would cherish this one as one of the best movies I have seen, along with Amélie and Life is Beautiful.