Night Train to Lisbon

It is rare to find a recent film celebrating with such fidelity the finest standards of European cinematic art. Each frame is a visual masterpiece of mouthwatering vitality, and yet there is also history and satisfying philosophical reflection. The chequered history of the Portuguese Fascist period and its imperfect Resistance is perfectly summarised with nuance, pathos and humour. The cast is stupendous; the direction intelligent, sensitive and able to delve into the ironies of competing moralities; the overall experience a sheer delight and triumph. A sophisticated and compelling jewel to give resounding and discerning pleasure in the current sea of cinematic mediocrity. And of course Jeremy Irons is at the apex of his acting career, a splendid role well taken.

Beautifully shot, well acted, deliberately 'arty' but a moving story nonetheless.(If only revolutions were this romantic in real life)

The overall plot is attractive and I like the dichotomy if the storyline. However, this movie didn't explain why the protagonist (professor) is leaving to Lisbon putting everything behind. I think this movie leaves many things to the audience and make them imagine to understand the whole movie. Besides that, overall pictures in this movie is beautiful and nicely colored. The landscapes of Lisbon look amazing. This movie has short running time, so I recommend to watch!

Jeremy Irons is especially good in this. He admits in his character that he's 'boring.' But in him we can find a bit of ourselves; maybe a bit lost. Or simply that we feel we've lost time. Night Train to Lisbon is a brief travel about brief encounters, some of which are life changing. It brings into question deeds done in the past, old regrets and old acquaintances long gone but not forgotten. The film is very thoughtfully written and the acting alone should have any thinking person well-engrossed in its plot. I'd agree that it could have done with a little more tension. The film presents enough intrigue factor in that each character carries some degree of mystery. I felt that the ending was a bit flat and for that I can't award it much more than a 7. But it's worth the watch.

The original book is excellent and philosophical, but when it is adapted into a movie, this feeling is not completely transmitted to the audience. Bille August made great efforts to add clues of Raimund and the book, but the story was still a bit separated. In all, it's a good movie for people who like literature and Portuguese history.

I've watched this film three times now with the same combination of reactions - enjoyment of the more successful elements and disappointment that the film doesn't work better as a whole. Many of the characters are interesting and well-acted, notably Jeremy Irons' performance as the professor who takes off for Lisbon to unpack the mystery of the girl and the book. Many of the cameo performances are also good. Where the film falls short is in its failure to engage the viewer's interest in the historical events. While understanding that they are supposed to be dramatic, tragic and portentous, for me it just doesn't work. Whenever the story returns to the current day, the film recovers a bit, but overall it ends up dragging on far too long. The film makers have tried to do something far too ambitious here, and they haven't pulled it off, which is rather a shame.

if you were not advised that NTTL is a book adaptation such is an easy guess. The Bern and Lisbon settings are terrific, as is the acting, especially Irons. I know nothing of '70's Portuguese politics and must accept such on face value, though the Argentine and Chile parallels tend to mute the impact. I especially loved Irons' interaction with the people he encounters - very captivating! But I'm betting the film fell short on one facet of the novel - Raimund's background character, motivations (or lack of them). Add five to ten minutes in the beginning to better acquaint us with Raimund so we'd be surprised and excited about his audacious trip! There's a substantial subplot in Raimund's "awakening" that seems to be given just lip service. Such would be more forgivable if the primary plot vehicle were more compelling, though it only pulls through as sufficient.

Very well done with the passion it needs. The prof investigation get lucky many times to perfectly uncover the whole story.

Boring, more boring, most boring. Swiss schoolteacher abandons class and impulsively rushes off on a madcap journey. Unbelievable. After reading a few lines of a vanity published book, ostensibly intelligent person becomes neurotically obsessed with unearthing the life story of the author of some platitudes. Unbelievable. Many people liked this movie. Unbelievable.

You stop being genuinely interested in what's going on on the screen after 5 minutes. The plot is nonexistent, the dialogues are just so artificial you wonder how on Earth anyone from the cast could even bother to take part in this.... And why all the characters had to speak that broken English? You literally struggle to understand the muttering and when you do, you wish you didn't. Why secret police officers wear black leather jackets all the time? What's the point of making such a movie? Did they want to show Lisbon? Talk about dictator regime? Earn some retirement money for Mr. Irons? I'd never know.... It's hard to even right 10 lines for a review after seeing this. But I had to make it to save other's time.