Night Train to Lisbon

R

2013

1 hr. 51 min.

Mystery & Thriller

Romance

List

43%

30 Reviews

Tomatometer

61%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Swiss professor Raimund Gregorius abandons his life to embark on a thrilling adventure.

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Mahmoud M

I love it, it's my stress release movies

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/12/24

Full Review

patrick v

Best film i saw in many years.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

isla s

At first I thought this film had the potential to be really quite deep and indeed it is but its less compelling a watch than I suppose I'd hoped. There are certainly some good bits of dialogue and its fairly thought provoking but it was a bit too complicated for my personal taste. There are a number of sub-plots present but I didn't find myself feeling entirely engrossed or certainly on the edge of my seat regarding this title, which is a shame as the synopsis made this sound really quite appealing, as I say. I found particularly interesting the discussion about how bad potentially immortality would be, if we could attain it. Mortality and immortality is mentioned numerous times. There is a pretty decent sense of mystery and perhaps of intrigue at times but it still didn't entirely 'reel me in' so to speak, although I wouldn't say its a really bad film. I hear the book this film us based on is very good and that this film wasn't a great adaptation, which makes me think perhaps (given I'm an (ocassional/casual) bookworm as well as a film fan) I ought to give the book a read. Jeremy Irons gives a reasonable performance as the main character, Raimund Gregorius, although I wouldn't say the performance is especially memorable and his character hardly has the sor tof majestic look or feel I may expect of someone with such a name but there you go(!). Its a reasonably thoughtful film and its certainly not unwatchable. Its ok. There are better films that explore such deep issues as mortality and the impact of encounters on your self but it doesn't quite hit the mark I'd perhaps hoped, being a little convoluted. Its a reasonable watch but no more - one with a frustrating ending too and so overall I don't think I would recommend it as such, no. Perhaps I didn't pay enough attention to it (which would, of course, be my fault(?), to follow it as I should have and if I had maybe I'd feel differently, I'm not 100% sure but what else can I say?. I can't say more than that, surely.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

graeme o

Typically ponderous and tweedy Jeremy Irons performance. Which drags down a movie in which, for all the sophistication/Europeanness, everyone talks only English, and regardless of ethnicity many act as if members of the English upper class. Almost rescued by the backdrops of Lisboa, the famous sudespresso train and a struggle against Salazar's fascist regime. And by the odd existential moment: unsurprisingly as the underlying novel was written under a pseudonym by a Swiss writer and academic (who in effect Irons is playing). Most notable is the scene where the younger protagonist addresses his school congregation, arguing that God would not inflict eternal life on anyone. Since it would be either a torment - inescapable - or a negation of what gives life meaning - the knowledge that each moment matters, because each moment is precious. During the address, the older Catholic teachers, parents leave their pews. But the younger folk are inspired. Whether the older folk are offended at the religious heresy or, fearful of their own mortality, is left neatly hanging.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I am somewhat puzzled by the relatively poor reviews for this film.I found it both captivating and emotionally engaging. The performances of the key roles were convincing and there was both humour and pathos in the portrayals by Irons and Tom Courtney. Lisbon photographs beautifully and the key existential themes of lost opportunity life as a journey and individual agency are impeccably clarified in the script. I simply loved it.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The film was so much better than than Mercier's book. Jeremy Irons and Martina Gedeck were superb. In the film Gregorius is attractive and believable - in the book he's just weird.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

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Bille August

Director

Jeremy Irons

Raimund Gregorius

Mélanie Laurent

Young Estefânia

Jack Huston

Amadeu

Martina Gedeck

Mariana

Tom Courtenay

João Eça

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Geoffrey Macnab

Independent (UK)

In its lesser moments, the film feels like a European art-house adaptation of a Mills and Boon novel or a Saga holiday commercial, but it is beautifully shot and packed with cameos from big-name actors.

Rated: 2/5

Oct 23, 2014

Full Review

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

On TV, this might while away a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Rated: 2/5

Oct 23, 2014

Full Review

David Stratton

At the Movies (Australia)

It's always a stretch for a movie to unfold in two time frames and have different actors play characters at different stages of their lives, and here the casting isn't entirely successful.

Rated: 2.5/5

Feb 21, 2014

Full Review

Keith Garlington

Keith & the Movies

It’s a swirl of mystery, romance, self-examination, and character study that does at times trip over itself and its subtle but clumsy preachiness.

Rated: 4/5

Aug 24, 2022

Full Review

Leigh Paatsch

Herald Sun (Australia)

Irons is... asleep on the job for the entire film. Either that, or he was drugged, hypnotised and pushed in front of a camera without his knowledge or consent.

Rated: 1/5

May 18, 2020

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

A gratingly stilted endeavor, a muddled miasma of vapid, historical based intrigue that dilutes its own specific political angles with its pan-European blandness.

Rated: 1/5

Aug 29, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

Swiss professor Raimund Gregorius abandons his life to embark on a thrilling adventure.

Director: Bille August
Executive Producer: Oliver Simon, Daniel Baur, Eric Fischer, Kevin Scott Frakes
Screenwriter: Greg Latter, Ulrich Herrmann
Production Co: C-Films, Studio Hamburg Filmproduktion
Rating: R (Brief Sexuality|A Scene of Violence)
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Romance
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 17, 2013

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