A quite good film version of the novel, though at the beginning a little bit lengthy. Fortunately there are a few funny scenes from time to time. This movie is surely not for the main stream audience - but for fans of Italian (or Portuguese) cinema, a must-see also for Mastroianni-fans.
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030-Kino.de-224 November 1998
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jotix10031 December 2010Pereira, an aging journalist, is the man behind the cultural column of a Lisbon newspaper. It is 1938, and Portugal has not suffered what its Iberian neighbor has gone through. Still, the times are tense because of the impending European conflict that will cause great turmoil in most of Europe. Pereira, a widower, obsessed with death, reads an article about the subject, something that moves him by its content, and wants to meet its author. Monteiro Rossi, the man in question, turns out to be a young Italian man trying to make sense of what is happening in Spain. It is clear, Rossi, and his girlfriend, Marta, are on the side fighting against Franco, and the fascist regime in his native Italy.
Pereira engages the young man to update the obituary section of his publication as there are many people whose biographies will soon appear in the newspaper. Pereira, loves his lemonade breaks at the Cafe Orquidea, a drink he usually add a lot of sugar. Not being in good health, he decides to explore one of the cures fashionable at the time, at a seaside resort, conducted by Dr. Cardozo. On the way to the spa, he meets a German woman in the train. She is a Jewish refugee awaiting the American visa that will take her to safer ground. He is clearly impressed by the woman's appeal for him to speak up about the madness that is sweeping Europe.
His experience with Dr. Cardozo helps Pereira shed some of the extra weight he has been carried. On his return to Lisbon, Pereira finds the atmosphere has changed. The super's wife, he realizes, is spying on him. His phone is being tapped. When Monteiro Rossi arrives at his apartment, it is clear the young man has been through a lot. Now, being persecuted, he asks Pereira to hide him, but unfortunately, it is too late. The Gestapo-like secret police comes to Pereira's home and Rossi falls victim of the rough treatment. Pereira can only do something in memory of his young friend. The essay he was handed by Rossi makes the front page of his newspaper. The only solution for Pereira is to go into exile before the police catches up with him.
Roberto Faenza, the director of this extraordinary film, adapted Antonio Tabucci's original Italian novel with the assistance of Sergio Vecchio. The result is an interesting political drama that captures the essence of the period before WWII, while the Spanish Civil War was raging in neighboring Spain. Pereira, the man at the center of the story, has always taken an easy posture of non-involvement, but faced with the madness of fascism in his own land, proves to be the catalyst for him to spring into action.
That Mr. Faenza was able to get the wonderful Marcello Mastroianni to portrait Pereira, was a lucky break, no doubt. The actor, almost at the end of his life, shows an intensity and passion for the man he is playing that it is an experience not to be missed. We watched this film at Anthology of Films Archives in New York, when it first was shown in America. Watching it again on an Argentine cable channel, recently, brought back fond memories for the film, Mr. Faenza, and Mr. Mastroianni. Others seen in the film include the great Daniel Auteuil, Joaquim De Almeida, Stefano Dionisi, Nicoletta Braschi, and Marthe Keller in a moving cameo role.
Blasco Giurato caught the essence of the Lisbon of those years in somber images of faded colors, as to enhance a story that took place long ago. Ennio Morricone does his usual magic with a musical score that also adds to our enjoyment. The film is recommended to the fans of Mr. Mastroianni in one of the best appearances before he left us, thanks to the inspired direction of Roberto Faenza. -
fedesaluzzo7 December 2015This movie is fine work; all the elements are gently blended to create a detailed and candid portrait of a man who evolves and embraces a fight, despite his age.
Three - related - aspects unveil the elegance of the equilibrium among the basic elements of the movie: The well managed crescendo of Pereira's involvement in Montero Rossi's life, the delicate intersection between politics and literature, and the absence of commiseration for the lives of the protagonists.
If you enjoy the neo-realism, probably you will appreciate this movie too. -
A thoughtful story, impeccably acted, free from cinematic cliche, holding the attention at every moment, raising a few smiles, and lingering long in the memory. What more could a discerning filmgoer want? Good music? It's got that too (Dulce Pontes).
Mastroianni brings magisterially to life the outwardly grey and unremarkable literary journalist of the title - a widower approaching retirement age who lives on nostalgic memories of his wife, with whose photo he habitually converses, and tries to ignore the increasingly unpalatable turn things are taking around him owing to the rise of fascism (we're in late-30s Lisbon). His prudent, mild-mannered apoliticism comes under threat when he employs a naive and passionate Italian rebel as an obituary-writer, then discovers that his own generous human instincts oblige him reluctantly to intervene when the young Italian gets into trouble and has to go on the run from the authorities. Thus, he finds himself being drawn into political commitment in spite of his own instincts and lifelong habits - a transition he cannot explain even to himself except in terms of a picturesque philosophical theory ("community of souls") offered by his doctor (a sympathetic and amusing secondary character).
The film's memorable moments are many, including a grotesque reconstruction of fascist propaganda being shown at a cinema, a couple of finely-observed encounters between Pereira and his craven, dull-witted boss, and an unforgettable scene in which Pereira is forced to witness at first hand the sneering, lumpen brutality of Portugal's new fascist rulers (an event that finally prods him into taking decisive, if ultimately little more than symbolic, action).
This movie presents a struggle between opposing forces within the individual, with kindness and generosity ranged against prudent self-interest and force of habit, and it does so with delicacy and finesse.
No knowledge of Portugal's history is required or assumed, though it /is/ assumed that viewers will understand references to the Spanish Civil War and will be able to place the phenomenon of European fascism in some sort of historical/conceptual context. Period "feel" and locations are expertly re-created. All in all, a very creditable piece of film-making that stands up well to repeated viewings. -
borgolarici7 March 2022I'm not going to bore you with how good Mastroianni and Auteuil are, or with the beautiful soundtrack (especially A Brisa do Coracao). I'd just skip to the flaws of the movie, which is to say the young mains leads: Monteiro and Marta (Dionisi and Braschi). Their acting here is very weird, artificial and unappealing. This kind of ruins the mood since you're supposed to side with them. The pacing is also somewhat clunky.
Still, I gave it 7 stars because it's a good movie in general, with a fine soundtrack. -
gabrielsns30 December 2022A beautiful movie depicting the tirany of Portugal before the 25 of April 1974. A past that many prefer to forget and that also many want to bring back. A moving story of courage and rebellion against oppression. A proof that a single soul can make the difference.
Very well acted by Marcello Mastroianni as Pereira, and I particularly enjoyed watching a young Joaquim de Almeida as the bartender Manuel. The score is not particularly moving for Morricone, but it has moments of beauty such as in the collaboration with Portuguese singer Dulce Pontes, which can be heard when Pereira is listening to a track (A brisa do coração) in a record player in his living room. The portrait of the city, the environment and the attitudes is masterfully done, a faithful portrait of XX century Portugal. The moment in which Pereira decides to go for a swim is very amusing, for Pereira tries to show the lifeguard that he doesn't need floaties and can swim well, and in such showmanship he almost drowns, the actor captures it very well. -
I'm a bit disappointed by this movie adaptation of Antonio Tabucchi's Sostiene Pereira (Pereira declares), an Italian modern classic novel about an old Portuguese journalist who decides to not stand watching but to intervene, in his own little way, in a difficult historic moment (the story is set in 1938, on the eve of WWII), compromising himself. It's a great story of heroism and courage. What I didn't like about the movie is the key adopted to tell the story, I find it too comic and slight compared to the importance of the matter dealt in the book, the novel's tone is serious, Mr Pereira is a dramatic character, whereas the Pereira played by Mastroianni is excessively tragicomic to my way of thinking; there's a few hilarious moments in the book but they never appear as forced as they do in the movie. In general the story's register is gloomy, however this gloominess was lost in the movie.
Nicoletta Braschi is another reason why I didn't like this movie, she's absolutely terrible in it, she drones on all her cues, she seems to be reading a shopping list all the time!
The score composed by Ennio Morricone suffers from the same misunderstanding that affects the movie in general: the interpretation key is wrong for me, this kind of musical approach would have been more fit for a comedy than for a drama, it's a sort of funny piped music with no substance, it's absolutely unable to play the dramatic sequences up. Nevertheless what's in the book you find in the movie, the message is safe but where's the spirit? where's the atmosphere? All that remains of the book is its didactic value, but I think there's much more in it.
The only sequence where I found the book spirit is that one set on the train, where Mrs Delgado (Marthe Keller) asks Pereira to not stand watching but to act in any way he can. -
MCMoricz2 August 2005For those to whom it matters, this film has a very fine Ennio Morricone score, elegant, rhythmic and with prominent classical guitar and a touch of Fado styling. It also marks Morricone's first collaboration with Dulce Pontes, the magnificent Portugese Fado singer who sings the hell out of a theme in this film called "A Brisa do Coracao."
After this collaboration, Pontes occasionally started singing on Morricone's live orchestral concerts throughout Europe, and they made a wonderful album together in 2003 called "Focus", in which Ms. Pontes sings vocal versions (in Portugese, Italian and English) of 15 Morricone film melodies with the maestro arranging and conducting. Surprisingly, "A Brisa do Coracao" is not among them. But while Ms. Pontes has enjoyed a huge following in Portugal, her work on this film with Morricone was the gateway to a far larger international career, which she certainly richly deserves. -
agyanez18 October 2002I think this film has two great qualities. The first is that you can watch one of the last work of Marcello Mastroianni, the most famous and I think one of the best italian actor of every time. The second is that this film is really a teaching. I remember that, when I watched it the first time, I was hit by the semplicty used to explain the terrible time of fascism in Europe. From then on I am sure that this film can explain better than more words the violence and absurdity of years not so distant.