Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

robert-temple-1 Having just returned from Lisbon by air, I thought I should return immediately by night train, so I watched this wonderful film again. The film is based upon the brilliantly-plotted best-selling novel of the same title by Pascal Mercier, the pen name of a Swiss writer from Bern, whose real name is Peter Bieri. It is the only novel of his which has yet been filmed. This film is a complete and total success. It was directed by the Danish director Bille August, and the studio work was done in Hamburg, but the location work, of which there is plenty, was done in Lisbon with some in Bern (and I thought I glimpsed a scene in Peniche). The film contains actors from several European countries. The film is therefore what in the business is described affectionately (and sometimes derisively) as 'a Euro-pudding'. But this is a truly delicious pudding, just as good as any Portuguese custard tart (known as a pastel in Portuguese, where the 's' is pronounced 'sh' and the accent is on the second syllable; my Portuguese lessons are available at one million pounds an hour: any takers?). Greg Latter and Ulrich Herrmann did the screenplay. Director, novel, screenplay, and cast, are all superb. There are several excellent cameo roles by famous actors. Tom Courtenay, Charlotte Rampling, Christopher Lee, and Bruno Ganz are all scintillating, and I don't believe I have ever seen Tom Courtenay do a better job on screen than he does here playing one of the key characters when older. As for Charlotte Rampling, is there anything she cannot do? Really, one gasps at these old pros at work. And if anyone ever wondered about Jack Huston, here is the concrete proof that he is at the top of his profession, sheer perfection itself as the lead young man, Amadeu. But the film as a whole is held together by the main actor in the story, Jeremy Irons. I don't believe I have ever seen him do a better job either. When he was younger I occasionally found him annoying, as I did the one time I met him at a mutual friend's 50th birthday party. (I won't say who was the woman with bright red glistening lips and a practiced backwards lean when snogging whom he would not stop kissing in front of everyone, but I found it significantly slobbery.) But here Jeremy Irons atones for all previous annoyances by being inspired and moving. Frankly, he makes a better middle-aged and aging actor than he ever did as a young man. And he genuinely 'makes' the film. So hats off to you Jeremy, as your acting irons have never been hotter. As for the pulchritude contingent ('pulchritude' being Charlie Chaplin's favourite euphemism, by the way, so it has a cinematic pedigree), we have both the ravishingly beautiful Mélanie Laurent and the warm and beneficently smiling Martina Gedeck to stimulate all of our male hormones (those of us who have them), and to deliver superb and moving performances. Yes, this film has something to offer anyone, not least the intricate and emotional story. Also, the final scene is a classic. The story commences in Bern, Switzerland, where the author of the novel lives. Irons is a teacher at the university, divorced for five and a half years, demoralised, who believes himself to be boring (and with some justification), whose life is uneventful and who lives as a dry stick. He is walking across the high bridge at Bern when an unexpected and highly dramatic event occurs which changes his life entirely. A girl is standing on the edge, about to throw herself off and commit suicide. He saves her. From that moment on, nothing is the same. She is a mysterious Portuguese girl whose identity he does not know. He fortunately knows Portuguese himself and later in the film we realize that he can even quote Fernando Pessoa's poetry, which is my view is the qualification for being a true gentleman. The girl flees and leaves her coat behind. He impulsively takes the night train to Lisbon to try to find her. In the pocket of the coat he discovers a rare book of poetry by an unknown Portuguese poet, whom he also tries to find, as the poetry is so beautiful. He then becomes involved in an unimaginably complex web of intrigue and events of the past, culminating in the revolution of April 25, 1974, 'the Red Carnation Revolution', when the horrible dictator Salazar was overthrown by rebellious soldiers who stuck red carnations in the barrels of their guns. The story is extremely intricate, the pieces of a gigantic puzzle fitting together in the most unexpected ways, and Irons discovers, as a result of his spectacles being crushed by a motorbike, that he is not boring after all. The tale is uplifting, profound, and moving. This film is worthwhile for anyone.

simondclinch-1 I am angry with at least six thousand of you who voted less than 7 (the minimum I normally have time to watch) and caused me delay in finding this wonderful film. Maybe I should submine the IMDb database so that I can cross-reference your votes on other films and generate my own ratings in a numberscape void of your numbscape. That said, I can now begin my review. It is often said that a film is usually inferior to the book on which it is based. And whereas this tendency is almost a de facto weakness, such films must be made at all costs, because films that are not based on any book tend on average to be worse. In this case, the skill of the original novelist explodes early on screen as the words of a fictitious novel that is central to the plot. There is an old joke, 'what is the difference between heaven and hell?' that compares the weaknesses and strengths of different European nationals. For example, in heaven the Italians are the lovers and the Swiss are the bankers and in hell the roles are reversed. Having lived in Switzerland, I have to disagree with such stereotypes. And indeed, this story does a good job in exploding such myths, for the central character is Swiss and while demonstrating a quiet, deferential manner, reveals increasingly the intense passion he feels as the story unfolds, as indeed it does for the viewer, who should I would hope empathise to some degree.It is almost a rule of novel-writing that a story be told in the words of its characters. Films rarely manage to include the unspoken words, but this masterpiece uses many clever tricks to work around that problem seamlessly, that is to say, without exposing the inner workings of the writer's kitchen.The story begins in Bern where a teacher on his way to school encounters a Portuguese woman about to kill herself and who has also dropped a book on the ground. And from there all the way to the end and actually beyond, the film jumps headfirst into the depths of mystery. The teacher (Irons) follows a trail of clues laid out in the book from Bern to Lisbon, unfolding a story from the past of romance and revolution underpinned by eloquent passages of philosophical thought. I say that instead of philosophy, because they are very different things. A philosopher is a person who seeks answers to questions about fundamental laws and the human condition, whereas philosophy is the bureaucracy of categorizing such answers without understanding them beyond a level too superficial to be called philosophical.Needless to say, it was the words of Amadeu, the fictional writer at the centre of this story that lifted me to such a philosophical level. I cannot recall watching a film quite like it!Of course it helps to have a superstar cast which also was not apparent from the IMDb header! One either has to read the whole cast list or watch the film to realise how many heavy hitters are hiding in there!

phd_travel A teacher in Switzerland (Irons)saves a girl from jumping off a bridge. He reads a book she had and travels to Lisbon find out more about the author. There is a mild not quite mystery as the teacher delves into the life and death of the author.The good points of this movie are:The story isn't confusing even though a lot of it is told in flashbacks. The deliberate pace isn't boring.There is no unrealistic twist so things are more believable.The casting of the old and young versions of the characters is very good and sometimes they even look alike. It's easy to tell who is who.The repression of the dictatorship isn't over done. One torture scene is all you need for emphasis. The actors bother to have a faint Portuguese accent. The acting is good. Jeremy Irons is suited to this role - not too bumbling if a tad old for the hinted romance. Charlotte Rampling as the author's sister is more vulnerable looking than usual and quite effective. Melanie Laurent as the author's love interest is well cast with dark hair to look more Portuguese and her diction is surprisingly lucid. Jack Huston of Boardwalk Empire is quite suited to the role with a face that seems to fit flashbacks. This is a good movie with good actors and an interesting story. Worth watching.

bandw The title of this leads you to think it might be a film noir, but in fact it is about a man's search for meaning later in life. That man is Raimund Gregorius (Jeremy Irons), a Latin teacher in Bern, Switzerland. As the movie opens the time is contemporary (2013). In a unique way Gregorius comes by a book of poetry that has a great effect on him. This book was written by one Amadeu de Almeida Prado, a Portuguese poet, medical doctor, and philosopher who lived in Lisbon from the early 1930s to 1974. Outside the fact that Amadeu's story plays out against the historical facts of the dictatorial regime in Portugal during his lifetime, all else is fiction, including the existence of Amadeu himself.Gregorius is so taken with what he reads in Amadeu's book that he feels compelled to meet the author and drops everything and goes to Lisbon to see if he can find him. Once he arrives in Lisbon the main thrust of the story follows his detective work in trying to piece together Amadeu's short life that came to an end on April 25, 1974, the day the dictatorship fell. The story alternates between Gregorius' life in Lisbon and Amadeu's life during the 1970s. We get to know a lot about Amadeu and his friends; most of what Gregorius finds out comes from talking with people still living, mainly from two of Amadeu's friends and his sister (all obviously much older by 2013).The main insight into Amadeu's character comes from his writings. During the course of the movie Irons reads over a half dozen selections from Amadeu's book. He does a wonderful job in these readings using an expressive emotional tone. The readings are cleverly made to apply to what Gregorius is experiencing at the time of his reading them. I can see why Gregorius was so taken with Amadeu's book--the readings presented are quite elegant and I re-watched the movie so I could better appreciate them. For example, here is one:"In youth we live as if we were immortal. Knowledge of mortality dances around us like a brittle paper ribbon that barely touches our skin. When in life does that change? When does the ribbon tighten ... until finally it strangles us?"I felt that there was ambiguity in how Amadeu met his end, based on the comment Jorge made to Estefania at Amadeu's funeral, "You didn't really think I would do it did you?"Irons is perfect for this role. All the actors appearing in both time periods are well cast in this well-acted, complex, captivating movie.