Irons plays Ray, a dull Swiss professor going through a middle-life crisis. Shaken up by a girl attempting suicide and then disappearing, Ray decided to follow her, the only trace being a ticket to Lisbon. In Lisbon the story shifts between past and present, with the history past being nothing more than a variation of the love triangle.
In the 70's Amadeus and Jorge, two friends from different background, fall in "love" with the same girl, the twist being that they are mixed up with the so-called "resistance" against the Salazar dictatorship. Since not many know much about Portugal, they may be fooled into believing that the Portuguese resistance was akin to the French during WWII. It wasn't so. The "resistance" had no part whatsoever in overturning a regime that was pretty mild compared to the Nazi or even the Facist. There are no estimates of Salazar's victims, but the number is believed to be very low, possibly less than 100 in 50 years of regime.
Regardless of that, Amadeu is the rich doctor, whose father is compromised with the regime, while Jorge is the proletarian who brings Estefania into his bed and into a revolutionary cell.
In the present Ray discovers these mildly dramatic events and what happened to Estefania when she disappeared from Lisbon. Amadeus and Estefania were attracted to each other, but did not dare to act out on their passion until a night of disorders, when they kissed. Jorge saw them, tried to kill Estefania and prompted their escape to Spain.
In a most implausible move, Estefania is a "revolutionary" seeking shelter in equally tyrannical Spain, under the rule of Franco. Not only that, but just after having opened up about their passion, Estefania dumps Amadeu abruptly, under a silly excuses, thus destroying the whole romantic plot. The anticlimax could not have been bigger.
In the present Ray sort of falls for Mariana, the niece of yet another "resistance" member - what a coincidence! who helps him retrace Estefania. And what about the suicidal girl? She's just a side note in an already crowded scenario.
I might buy the implausibility that sets the plot in motion, if there was an actual plot to follow. Unfortunately, what follows is just a series of randomly connected events that help Ray discover an underwhelming mystery from the 70s.
In the 70's Amadeus and Jorge, two friends from different background, fall in "love" with the same girl, the twist being that they are mixed up with the so-called "resistance" against the Salazar dictatorship. Since not many know much about Portugal, they may be fooled into believing that the Portuguese resistance was akin to the French during WWII. It wasn't so. The "resistance" had no part whatsoever in overturning a regime that was pretty mild compared to the Nazi or even the Facist. There are no estimates of Salazar's victims, but the number is believed to be very low, possibly less than 100 in 50 years of regime.
Regardless of that, Amadeu is the rich doctor, whose father is compromised with the regime, while Jorge is the proletarian who brings Estefania into his bed and into a revolutionary cell.
In the present Ray discovers these mildly dramatic events and what happened to Estefania when she disappeared from Lisbon. Amadeus and Estefania were attracted to each other, but did not dare to act out on their passion until a night of disorders, when they kissed. Jorge saw them, tried to kill Estefania and prompted their escape to Spain.
In a most implausible move, Estefania is a "revolutionary" seeking shelter in equally tyrannical Spain, under the rule of Franco. Not only that, but just after having opened up about their passion, Estefania dumps Amadeu abruptly, under a silly excuses, thus destroying the whole romantic plot. The anticlimax could not have been bigger.
In the present Ray sort of falls for Mariana, the niece of yet another "resistance" member - what a coincidence! who helps him retrace Estefania. And what about the suicidal girl? She's just a side note in an already crowded scenario.
I might buy the implausibility that sets the plot in motion, if there was an actual plot to follow. Unfortunately, what follows is just a series of randomly connected events that help Ray discover an underwhelming mystery from the 70s.