Bille August Night Train to Lisbon Interview

Bille August Night Train to Lisbon Interview

Cast: Jeremy Irons, Mélanie Laurent, Jack Huston, Martina Gedeck, Tom Courtenay, August Diehl, Bruno Ganz, Lena Olin and starring Christopher Lee, Charlotte Rampling
Director: Bille August
Running Time: 111 minutes

Synopsis: Bern, Switzerland. Once again Raimund Gregorius (Jeremy Irons) cannot sleep. He starts playing chess against himself until dawn. For years now, ever since his marriage collapsed, the high-school Latin teacher has been leading a quiet, uninspiring life. Just like every other morning over the past 30 years, he makes his way to school, which as always takes him past the Kirchenfeld Bridge. But this rainy day turns out to be unlike any other.

Raimund sees a young woman wearing a red coat (Sarah Spale-Bühlmann) standing on the railing, just about to jump to her death. He runs up to her and is able to save her in the very last moment. He decides to take her along to school, but the mysterious stranger disappears again just as fast as she appeared, leaving only her coat behind. In one of the pockets Raimund finds a book called -A Goldsmith of Words' by Amadeu Inàcio de Almeida Prado.

Raimund abandons his students to look for the woman. His first stop is the second-hand bookshop where she bought the novel. This is where he finds a train ticket to Lisbon hidden between the pages. The train is scheduled to leave in 15 minutes.

The professor hurries to the train station, hoping to catch the young Portuguese woman on the platform, but she isn't there. Impulsively, he boards the train and starts reading the book. He is fascinated by the author (Jack Huston) whose picture in the book portrays a young man with an intelligent and melancholy gaze. The passionate writing profoundly affects Raimund.

He is particularly enthralled by the book's depiction of a life filled with drama and longing far beyond his own usual routine. He desperately wants to find out more about the author and decides to track him down when the train arrives in Lisbon.

On arrival in the Portuguese city, Raimund enquires after Amadeu's address and finds the house in a noble neighborhood. Amadeu's sister, Adriana (Charlotte Rampling) receives him, but sends him away explaining the writer is not at home. As he is about to leave the house, the housekeeper sends him to the cemetery, where he is surprised to discover Amadeu's name on the family tomb. He had died over 30 years ago – on the day of the Cloves Revolution, which had ended the 40-year dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar.

Adriana, however, has adored and idolised her brother ever since as a medical student he had saved her life. As a young woman (Beatriz Batarda), Adriana would assist her brother in his office. To this day she speaks of him as if he were alive. Raimund decides to track down Amadeu's friends and acquaintances, in order to glean whatever information he can on the doctor who so clearly would have preferred to have been a writer and philosopher. This is when coincidence comes to his aid: Mariana de Eca (Martina Gedeck) is an affectionate and interesting woman who he trusts immediately. She puts Raimund in touch with a close friend of Amadeu's, her uncle Joao de Eca (Tom Courtenay). The two men were both members of Portugal's Resistance movement when the country suffered beneath the heavy hand of Europe's longest-running dictatorship.

Now an old man living in a nursing home, Joao revisits his memories of the young Amadeu (Jack Huston) with Raimund and Mariana. His story begins with Mendez (Adriano Luz), also known as the Butcher of Lisbon, who had been the head of Portugal's hated secret police in the early 1970s. Mendez had once broken every bone in both hands of the young Joao (Marco D'Almeida) in an attempt to force him to reveal the name of a female comrade in the Resistance movement. Joao had remained silent and been sent to prison.

The older Joao reveals it is because of Mendez the people in Lisbon believed Amadeu to have been a traitor. The Butcher of Lisbon had been beaten up and left in front of Amadeu's front door night. The young doctor had seen no choice but to treat him and subsequently save his life.

Enthralled by what he is discovering about Amadeu, Raimund's further investigations take him to a derelict school where Father Bartolomeu (Christopher Lee) had been Amadeu's teacher over 40 years ago.

Raimund learns that as a student Amadeu had already been a brilliant free spirit. Bartolomeu remembers a sharp-witted and passionate final speech of Amadeu's in a church, where he had snubbed the establishment and had placed freedom and beauty above everything else. Several of those listening had left the church in outrage, among them Amadeu's father (Burghart Klaußner), a judge, with whom Amadeu had never got along.

Slowly Raimund is able to imagine what kind of a person Amadeu had been. He visits Joao once more, and this time he tells him a story about Estefania. Being denounced as a traitor had lead Amadeu to join the Resistance movement once and for all, where Jorge (August Diehl), Amadeu's closest childhood friend, had taken on an active role. At one of the meetings, he met Estefania (Mélanie Laurent) and it had been love at first sight, the two of them were meant for each other. Everyone in the room had sensed it at once, even Jorge, who was her lover at the time.

Estefania and Amadeu were torn between their feelings for each other and their sense of loyalty towards Jorge. But they drew closer, and Jorge's jealously increased. He asked Joao to give him a weapon, planning to kill Estefania for the good of the Resistance movement. If she were to be caught by the secret police, none of them would be safe anymore, for it was Estafania who knew everyone's names. Joao reluctantly gave Jorge his gun, an act as he now confides to Raimund, he goes on to regret for his entire life. To this day he does not know what happened to Estafania.

Inspired by the heady mix of romance, adventure and intrigue, Raimund is determined to find out Amadeu's entire life story. He feels his energy being restored. Finally his life has a purpose again, finally he is motivated again. He invites Mariana to dinner and feels more happy and relaxed than he has in years. He can feel there is more to this relationship than just friendship.

In order to solvs the mystery, Raimund decides he must speak with Jorge (Bruno Ganz), who still runs a small pharmacy in Lisbon. Jorge may be the only person who will be able to tell him the entire story. Will Raimund succeed in putting together the pieces of the past and the tragic story of Amadeu's, Estefania's and Jorge's lives? And what about his own life? Will Raimund dare to start over again and confess his feelings for Mariana?

Night Train to Lisbon
Release Date: December 5th, 2013

Interview with Bille August

Question: How did this project come about?

Bille August: I have always loved the novel. I read it seven years ago when it was first published. It depicts such a special atmosphere. When Studio Hamburg offered me the job to direct the film I agreed immediately. I knew I would really enjoy transforming the atmosphere described in the book into a movie.


Question: How did you translate the literary and philosophical elements of the book into a cinematic language?

Bille August: Film is an emotional medium and books are an intellectual medium. Our main character Raimund Gregorius acts as a bridge connecting both. He is a very introverted person, doesn't like to be around people, he only has contact with his students. But then he meets a young woman on the bridge, becomes aware of the book which inspires him to travel to Lisbon where he discovers a new world for himself. He embarks on a journey and learns something about himself. His development is reflected in his encounters with other people. Accordingly, we only have a few voiceover passages.


Question: Was shooting the movie also a journey?

Bille August: Yes, every day develops differently. Sometimes you come to the set with a certain preconception of a scene. And during the shooting you realise you were wrong. When you are viewing and editing the material in the evening you don't only develop a feeling for the film, but you can also make corrections. In addition, the actors allow you to see things from a different perspective. Shooting a movie is an ongoing process, it is just like a journey.

Question: Are there different looks for the different time periods?

Bille August: No, I think that is a cliché. Nowadays the audience is educated enough; it does not need desaturated or monochrome images to realise something is set in the past. Just as in -The Hours', which is an excellent film, we merely jump between the different time periods. In -The Godfather', one of my favorite movies, there are a lot of flashbacks, and they are all set in the same style. Night Train to Lisbon tells a single story with one specific atmosphere.


Question: How does it feel to return to Lisbon 20 years after filming -The House Of The Spirits' in the city?

Bille August: It's wonderful. The big difference in comparison is that back then, Lisbon acted as Chile for the film and this time the city of Lisbon plays a central part, as the title suggests. We show the most interesting parts of the city and we made great discoveries beyond the major tourist attractions. The city is not as cinematically grazed as other large cities are. People here have a kind of charming innocence to them.


Question: How has your directing style changed over the years?

Bille August: You learn from experience, now I am much more economical, also when it comes to the finances.


Question: Had you planned on casting Jeremy Irons, your lead in -The House Of The Spirits', right from the start?

Bille August: Yes, right from the start. We didn't only need an excellent actor, but also someone who can convincingly play the role of a university teacher, who radiates intelligence, someone who is versatile and who also is, of course, a renowned actor, because that helps us finance the movie. We sent him the script, and two days later he agreed.


Question: The rest of the cast is impressive, right down to the smallest roles. What convinced the actors?
Bille August: The book has a lot of dazzling, very well-written secondary characters. And naturally they want to like working with a director. It is a question of trust, actors are vulnerable beings. When they trust you, you can do anything you want with them, demand a lot from them.


Question: An actor needs trust, what does a director need?

Bille August: The feeling his film is the most important story to be told. If a director succeeds in giving every single member of the audience the feeling a secret is being whispered into their ear, then magic takes place. And this material has the potential to do just that.


Night Train to Lisbon
Release Date: December 5th, 2013