Synopsis

Raimund Gregorius is a Latin teacher from Berne. When he encounters a book by the Portuguese poet and doctor Amadeu de Prado, he drops everything and takes the night train to Lisbon.

He is determined to find out more about this writer who appears to have been obsessed by the very same questions that plague him: the purpose of human deeds and the unrealised potential of each and every life.



His restless quest across Lisbon uncovers a contradictory portrait of a clever and brave yet conflicted man who lived at the time of Salazar’s dictatorship. Amadeu is the son of a conformist judge.

His closest friend is Jorge, the son of a persecuted officer from the opposition. Their friendship almost comes to an end when Amadeu is obliged to follow his oath and save the life of one of the regime’s thugs.

But then he too is forced to go underground. There he meets and falls in love with the beautiful and intelligent Estefania – who also happens to be Jorge’s girlfriend … As Gregorius pieces together the writer’s puzzling life, his investigations become a journey of self-discovery. –Berlinale

Cast: Jeremy Irons, Christopher Lee, Mélanie Laurent, Lena Olin, Jack Huston, Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay, Bruno Ganz, August Diehl, Martina Gedeck, Beatriz Batarda, Burghart Klaußner, Nicolau Breyner, Adriano Luz, Filipe Vargas, Marco D' Almeida, José Wallenstein, Joaquim Leitão, João Lagarto, Hanspeter Müller, Max Hubacher, Jane Thorne, Maria d'Aires

Berlinale (Competition)