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Swedish director Bille August has made some esteemed films, from Pelle The Conqueror to The House Of The Spirits , but this Euro-pudding isn’t one of them. August re-teams with Spirits star Jeremy Irons, here a Swiss-lit professor who saves a woman from jumping to her death. It’s the beginning of a plodding tale that sees Irons head to Portugal to uncover details about a past love triangle (Jack Huston, August Diehl and Mélanie Laurent).
Based on the novel by Pascal Mercier, the back-and-forth narrative saps the story of tension, while Irons bumbles around like a dippy Dumbledore.
James Mottram is a freelance film journalist, author of books that dive deep into films like Die Hard and Tenet, and a regular guest on the Total Film podcast. You'll find his writings on 12DOVE and Total Film, and in newspapers and magazines from across the world like The Times, The Independent, The i, Metro, The National, Marie Claire, and MindFood.
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