Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

In the first part of the movie when the Portuguese woman is tackled by the teacher character I felt that thud. What happened next is an anti climax. Instead of a conversation about what was happening we got a kind of non-physical shrug and some vague agreement that the woman will go with the teacher back to his place of work. The movie is about pivotal moments and about what might have been. It is about memories and places and while there is physical travel it is more about about experience and the alternate possibilities that draw us into the story. I did like the sense of revelation that the teacher - Raimund was on a journey to get in touch with part of himself. At various times he seems oblivious to his context and other times quite the artful observer but only second hand through the eyes of the poet whose life he is researching. That poet was a bit of a philosopher which resonates with our Professor / teacher character. There is a key moment early on his trip to Portugal where a cyclist collides with him and breaks the lens in his glasses. This is a very clunky metaphor to show us the character quite literally seeing events in a new way. His new glasses will take some getting used to says the Portuguese woman who is also an optometrist - a doctor of sorts. The parallel story of the professor and the optometrist is somewhat muted but it does counter balance the historical back story which is revealed to us through the memories of various characters using flashback sequences. What works well in the movie is a series of cameos from older actors. The philosophical tone of the book is also perceptive. The way we notice the multiple levels or layers in the story is also gentle and unforced.What doesn't work so well is way everyone speaks English when Portuguese and subtitles would have been a better choice. I'm not sure if Jeremy Irons is supposed to be Swiss or English but he does appear to speak Spanish and Portuguese as a professor of languages would. It is just I can't remember the last time I saw Irons in a film and he always seems to be very English so maybe a less typecast actor would have been better in that role. As a series of reflective observations on life and how some moments can bring big changes I enjoyed this somewhat oblique story.

I read the novel in Japanese translation in 2015 and have watched the film only recently, that is in the fall of 2016. Just about a good long time for a Raimund Gregorius character to grow in my mind. Adaptation of the literature, delicately weaved with two languages i.e. originally written in German with Portuguese quotes everywhere, must have been a lot of hard work. Given that, I reckon that this film adaptation was masterfully done. I was intrigued, like I was in the novel, into the thick narratives of Gregorius. Sadly, however, one critical element I had enjoyed in the novel was completely missing in the film: luxury of experience, though Gregorius, being left alone in the vast void of ignorance of the Portuguese language. Throughout the story, Gregorius struggled with the Portuguese language in the novel, while in the film, everyone speaks in English. Having said that, the film's visualization was amazing. I was amusingly impressed by the magic of colors, and a skillful camera work to capture the beauty of the historic town. Needless to say, perhaps, performances are superb. Screenplay were tactful enough to convey the multiple layers of the novel in a way not to confuse the audiences. If you are reading this, I recommend you to enjoy the film first, and then to pick up the novel. I bet you won't regret it.

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.

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.