Night Train To Lisbon – Review

Night Train to Lisbon is adapted from a German philosophical novel of the same name, and while picturesque and superbly acted, it seems there was little to gain by developing it for the big screen.

The film is a philosophical exploration of chance, life and trying to find the meaning in both. A chance encounter leads divorced teacher Raimond Gregorius, Jeremy Irons, to discover a book of philosophical notes and essays by a man named Amadeu de Prado. The words and ideas resonate so deeply with Gregorius that after an impromptu train ride to Lisbon, following an encounter with a mysterious woman, he decides to stay in the city and learn more about the book’s author.

Night Train to Lisbon is a story within a story within a story. We are first introduced to Gregorius’s lack-lustre, solitary and sleepless life in an exquisite scene where he plays chess against himself in the early hours of the morning. His story then becomes inextricably tethered to the story woven in de Prado’s writings, which take place during the Salazar dictatorship in Portugal. The writings are both narrated by Gregorius and dramatised as the mystery unfolds. Meanwhile, as both of these stories develop, we watch Gregorius’s self-reflection take shape.

Although pitched rather generously as a mystery–thriller, what unravels in this film is simply a poetic story of resilience, love, jealousy, chance and soul-searching, which the audience experiences vicariously through Gregorius, who in turn is experiencing it vicariously through de Prado’s book and the conversations he has about it.

These degrees of separation dilute the potency of the original story somewhat – I’m sure this would be very different within the generous medium of the novel it was based on – but making the discoveries via Irons is not unpleasant; his constant state of wonderment, his gentle narration and the richness of the Lisbon location is constantly captivating. However, there is very little drama to be teased out of a story that follows a narrative as predictable as the tracks the train to Lisbon travelled along.

NIGHT TRAIN TO LISBON is in NZ cinemas December 5

Reviewed by Rachael McKinnon

 

3 stars

3 stars

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