Lisbon Story (1994) User Reviews

Warm-hearted tribute to the power of art

[jonr-3 · 8/10 · 17 February 2005]

The first time I watched "Lisbon Story" I was disappointed and rather annoyed at what seemed a pretentious and self-indulgent experiment.

Then several months later, I watched it again, and was captivated by it, enjoyed it thoroughly, and found it to be a good-hearted, affectionate salute to motion pictures and by extension to art in general. Though the film's humor frequently borders on being downright corny, I couldn't help enjoying even that aspect because of the obvious good will with which it was presented. It feels refreshing to have a film-maker work so hard to amuse the audience! That in itself is a token of respect.

Wenders has made here a film that's slippery, puzzling, and that eludes the mind's grasp at every turn, yet in the end delivers a powerful and even joyful message. It takes a certain amount of courage to send a positive message to an audience these days--or even in 1994, when the film was released. I applaud Mr. Wenders and I applaud this film. I'm very glad I thought to watch it again--I will definitely see it again in future, too.

A very pleasant film

[karl_consiglio · 8/10 · 4 April 2006]

I watched this movie a few days ago with the strong impression of having seen it before. Anyway my first impression as it started was great because I felt as lost as the personality on the screen and I am sure that was Wender's intention. We are first and foremost lost in translation as we are lost as tourists on the road to Lisbon. We are children once again. This film is marvelous. Definitely my favorite Wenders movie to date. It captures almost all the things which never cease to fascinate me such as the arts, music, travel, women, friendships, poetry......love. A pure example of how much more valuable it is to open the heart rather than the mind. A wonderful introduction to the music of Madredeus and definitely a great advertisement to visit Portugal which was already in my agenda.

Pleasant and Delightful, But Could Be Shorter

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 12 June 2009]

The sound engineer Phillip Winter (Rüdiger Vogler) receives a postcard from Lisbon from his friend and director Friedrich Monroe (Patrick Bauchau) asking for help to finish a movie. Phillip drives his old car until the capital of Portugal and he finds the address of Fritz; however his friend is absent. Sooner Phillip meets the band Madredeus and he falls in love for the singer Teresa Salgueiro and becomes fascinated by the city. He decides to stay at Fritz's house while he wanders through the streets to record the sounds of Lisbon. When Phillip meets Fritz by chance on the street, he convinces the director to finish his movie.

"Lisbon Story" is a pleasant and delightful feature, with a magnificent tour though the capital of Portugal. The beginning is original and very funny, with Philip traveling with his old car through many European countries and having troubles with his car. When the angelical face and voice of Teresa Salgueiro appears with Madredeus, it seems that the viewer is in heaven, in a perfect combination of image and sound. Unfortunately the story is too short, and consequently the movie is too long and should be shorter. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Céu de Lisboa" ("The Sky of Lisbon")

Listen Again

[tieman64 · 31 March 2011]

Wim Wenders directs "Lisbon Story", a not quite successful film with an interesting concept.

The plot: a film sound technician visits Lisbon. Enamoured by the city, he journeys throughout its many alleys, buildings and causeways, capturing subtle sounds with his equipment and eavesdropping on snippets of noise, culture and conversation. The film is a love letter to the minutiae, to Lisbon and its people, but also a light parody of Wenders' increasingly bloated and ambitious road movies (we assume the sound man is recording sounds for previous and future Wenders features).

At its best, "Lisbon" story is a pleasantly relaxing film, which invites us to be enamoured by Wenders' loving shots of spaces, buildings and architecture. It's another moody film by the director. Unfortunately the film's cast lacks the naturalism such a project requires. The film's many interrupted "narratives" or "subplots" destroy what should be a relaxing, slice-of-life non-narrative, and the film's aesthetics are simply not seductive enough for a project devoted to the aesthetic pleasures of life. Some good came out of this project, though. See Antonioni's "Beyond The Clouds", a masterpiece which Wenders contributed to, and of which "Lisbon Story" serves as a template. Both films are about investing images and sounds with content, conjuring art out of absence, though Antonioni's film goes further.

7.9/10 – See "In The City of Sylvia" and "Beyond The Clouds".

Minor Wenders but worth seeking out.

[MOscarbradley · 7/10 · 8 April 2019]

Another movie about making a movie by someone clearly in love with the cinema but not afraid to poke fun at the source of his 'adoration'. Yes, it's Wim Wenders, clearly in his element and in Lisbon where sound engineer Phillip Winter, (a hang-dog Rudiger Vogler), finds himself a character in search of a director; the filmmaker he was supposed to meet there has disappeared, so he embarks on a voyage of discovery around the city recording what he hears.

It is, then, both a valentine to cinema and a road movie of sorts, (no surprise there). It's also minor Wenders. Here he is a character in search of a proper script and the film's at its best when it contents itself to be nothing more than a love letter to the city itself. Still, even minor Wenders is a cut above the best of many of his contemporaries so this is well worth seeking out while the music of the group Madredeus is absolutely fabulous.

Tribute to cinema in sight and sound

[E Canuck · 9/10 · 31 July 1999]

Wenders has shot a visual gem with rich sound and music, whose story-line and entire raison-d'etre is a tribute to film-making itself. Every frame is composed, dramatic, and the complementary colour theme of blue-yellow-red (predominantly sky blue) is adhered to so closely, it's phenemonal and delectable.

Waiting for the supposed main character Friedrich, played by Patrick Bauchau, to show up in the film, eventually becomes a metaphor for those times in life when one waits for the "main event", and it's a long time coming. Life is what happens while we're waiting for life to begin.

Rudiger Vogler's Phillip gets to deliver a wonderful lecture to all pretentious artists everywhere who've lost their way, and to art film-makers like Friedrich, especially. We're so happy to hear him dressing down Freidrich, and doing so more articulately than we could have done, it gives this fairly slow-moving film a wonderful sense of resolution and direction.

A very human film about the ordinary, the magic in the ordinary, and the ability of film to convey that magic. Loved it.

That Strange Wenders

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 8 June 2017]

The director Friedrich Monroe has trouble with finishing a silent b&w movie about Lisbon. He calls his friend, the sound engineer Phillip Winter, for help. As Winter arrives Lisbon weeks later, Monroe is disappeared but has left the unfinished film.

Wim Wenders, with three Portuguese film-makers, had been invited by the City of Lisbon to make a documentary about the city, as part of their programme as the European City of Culture in 1994. The result was the fictional "Lisbon Story", which either excited them or angered them.

As far as documentaries go, this is not one of them. At all. It is not even a particularly good showcase, as it could have been filmed just about anywhere. But it is an amusing Wenders tale, with some humorous moments. Not terribly funny, but just a bit odd and quirky. Especially the shoeshine guy. The part that was probably most interesting was when the kids learned how radio sound effects were achieved.

Haunting and beautiful

[lauri3 · 10/10 · 15 August 2002]

This movie had the most tremendous impact on me when I first saw it - and now that I watch it again it does the same kind of magic to me. It gives impressions, but mostly it uses pictures, music, sounds to convey beauty.

The depth, what makes this more than commercial of Lisbon is the true question lying under about filmmakers wrestle with himself about the worth of making a film or any film and then again a really beautiful story about love which is drawn with only the needed lines to make you see it, but without spelling the feelings out.

The lead singer of Madredeus - Teresa Salgueiro does exceptional role without playing anyone particular - also the presence of other band members is strong - and takes the movie somewhere between real and unreal and gives the movie sleepy, dreamy like atmosphere. Wenders must have talent in casting since also the "local" people fit in perfectly and are so easy about being in front of camera.

The director vanishes

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 31 July 2012]

Phillip Winter, a film sound recorder, is summoned by his friend Friedrich Monroe to Lisbon. Monroe, a director of a film he has been shooting in and around the city is not on hand to meet his friend, who has traveled from Germany only to find a deserted apartment and pieces of the film his friend was working on. Phillip finds himself surrounded by children of the neighborhood, who found in Friedrich's apartment a welcome place where to escape.

Since no one seems to know where the illusive director is, Phillip decides to go to the places shown in the rough copy of the film he found. To make matters worse, Phillip has a broken leg which makes his walks of discovery of the city, as he ventures through the ancient Alfama district as well as parts of Lisbon seldom seen, looking for sounds that will be added to the film his friend made.

Phillip is also fascinated by the neighbors of the apartment house, the musical group Madredeus. Their haunting songs attract Phillip, clearly moved by the melodious songs. As the group embarks on a South American tour, Phillip begins straying further into other parts of the city where he follows a little boy that holds the key to finding his friend. Friedrich has been living in an empty car in the outskirts of Lisbon wondering how to put the film he started to make in viewing shape.

An interesting film from Wim Wenders a man that knows a thing, or two, about making movies. The director is our guide on a tour of a mysterious old city that is in danger of losing its historic core. The newer parts of town pale in comparison with the Alfama area where the real people of Lisbon live. Friedrich had captured them in vivid images without a sound. Phillip is instrumental in adding a layer to what his friend had seen prior to his arrival.

A wonderful Rudigler Vogler makes an impression as Phillip. The actor is the main reason for watching the film. Patrick Bauchau plays Friedrich, who only shows up toward the end. The great Manoel De Oliveira, himself a distinguished Portuguese director is seen in a monologue within the film Phillip finds.

Falling in love with a city

[patkoczy · 9/10 · 3 March 2003]

This movie is, without the question, the most beautiful movie ever written about the city of Lisbon. It shows on the inside, all the old houses and narrow streets that Portuguese people hold so dearly...

The plot is pretty simple: Phillip Winter (Rüdiger Vogler) is a sound ingeneer for a German director who moved to Lisbon, and he receives a letter from his friend to come to Portugal and help him do this movie about the capital, through sound capturing of all the people, small noises, and even feelings that float in the air. Vogler accepts the challenge, and goes on a trip to Lisbon.

In the city, he gets acquainted with a local band, Madredeus (who perform a beautiful soundtrack for Lisbon Story), and some of the local kids... After a few weeks, he realizes he's in love with this town, so full of charm and emotion all over, and the rest I leave for you to see. There is also a bit of romance, between the main actor and Teresa, the lead singer of Madredeus (which is, in fact, a beautiful Portuguese girl).

Wim Wenders, as always, has great directing on this one, showing the places that we never thought that would contain so much beauty as they do. He's a great director, and this is a great picture, in a way of a documentary, but greatly captured.

Strong feelings are expected. Wonderful movie.

The sounds of life

[Classic-Movie-Club · 6/10 · 20 June 2019]

A pleasant minor Wenders, a relaxed study about the sounds of life, the awesome vocals of Teresa Salgueiro that launched Madredeus's international fame, a hint of Saudade or nostalgic longing.

This film is food for the soul.

[ivy26_yu · 10/10 · 17 January 2001]

"The thought is getting born blind, but it knows what is watching".. Today I saw the movie again. Actually, it was again, and again..for I don't know how many times since Wenders made it.

Who wouldn't get in love with Portugal, after seeing it..The people and country of Saudade. I won't explain you what it means, only real Portuguese know that. And even if I would like to explain,it is pointless..That can't be described, but maybe you can recognize it in Teresa's voice and landscape of Tejo who is the only witness of their lives. This story don't need actors to tell it because it is not only story between Fillip and Friedrich, but about the secrets that are hiding in wrinkles of people faces, in old aqueduct and walls of houses in Lisbon.

I hope that you get that desire to see and hear those secrets as much as I did.

100 minutes of nice images and music - but that's all

[grynai · 5/10 · 14 May 2007]

Yes, Lisbon is enchanting and yes, Madredeus is the balm for your ears, but including both into a film doesn't make it good. It also needs things like good actors and a good script. The actors in "Lisbon story" are doing just that - acting (not "living" the roles), and this keeps you from getting emotionally involved in what's happening.

It looks like Wenders chose the easiest path and expressed his ideas by simply letting Friedrich and Phillip tell everything in their monologues at the end of the film. I usually follow the "show, don't tell" rule. The language of cinema is not the same as the language of people, and in "Lisbon story" Wender seems to be able to speak the cinema language just as Mr. Winter is able to speak Portuguese: not much, but enough to survive.

Captures The Essence Of Lisbon

[paul-1722 · 10/10 · 3 January 2011]

As an eighteen year old in 1983, I ended up in Lisbon on a fairly aimless wander around the Iberian peninsula on the railway network, and simply fell in love with it. I stayed for a while to explore the city and surroundings and ended up with a rich mental image of the sights and sounds of this beautiful city.

When I came across a reference to this movie, I simply had to buy the DVD. Interestingly, I see that the intention of the movie was to capture the spirit of the city, and thankfully it does not do so from a touristic point of view.

It captures Lisbon at an interesting time for the country, some 20 years after the revolution and 8 years after Portugal joined the European Union. And also at a time where it was modernising fast. A few years prior to the shooting of this movie, there were very old buses and the old trams (Eléctricos) ran just about everywhere and up impossibly narrow and steep roads where you could reach out and touch the houses. Now, there are just a couple of heritage routes, and these are the eléctricos featured in the movie out of necessity. Today, the transport system is completely modernised and I can see the point of the movie in trying to capture the spirit of a city before it changes out of recognition.

The use of the group Madredeus to provide the music is, I think, quite inspired. To make a movie about Lisbon could have turned into a 'yawn' if it had used a cliché of Fado. Thankfully it didn't and used something more contemporary. And what a group! The music is haunting, so much so that I have now gone off and sought out their CDs! Teresa Salgueiro reminds me of those Portuguese girls I met as a youth, she is just perfect for the part.

As has been mentioned by another reviewer, the movie is a bit self-indulgent in an 'arty' type of way, but it IS entertaining.

Finally, I prefer the movie with the subtitles turned off. The movie has a pan-European flavour with various languages popping up and intertwining. I suppose I benefit that I can grasp the gist of Portuguese when it is being spoken, and the German in the movie is basic enough that most of us will have absorbed some of it from movies and TV. Teresa Salgueiro's voice is very clear to understand when singing to those who are trying to understand the language, and is a real pleasure to listen to. To someone who may never have visited Portugal, the use of children who are fluent in English might seem odd, but in general, the Portuguese (well, in Lisbon, especially so) have always been good English speakers and I find it entirely natural to find Portuguese schoolchildren who speak English as well as Portuguese.

Cinema Story

[Michalo · 10/10 · 10 February 1999]

Fascinating scenes, especial sounds, divine music which all end in a praise to the art of cinema, by the director who most of the time proves to be a real poet.

Listen to the reviewer who said "this movie is good for the soul"

[rooprect · 10/10 · 2 August 2007]

I've spent the last few days trying to come up with the perfect description for this movie, and I'm afraid another reviewer beat me to it: "This movie is good for the soul."

This is the perfect movie for the uninspired artist who is suffering from malaise, writer's block, disenchantment or perhaps just an overall pissy attitude toward the world. It's absolutely beautiful. The actors are endearing, the story is charming (though not without a few poignant touches of darkness & spookiness), and the music is downright hypnotizing.

This film gave me a big smile from beginning to end. The humour is what I call "real life silly"--these are things that have happened to us all at one point or another, and to watch the characters' reactions is hilarious, because we say to ourselves, "That could've been me!"

But overall this is a movie about love, not necessarily between people but perhaps between a person and a city or a person and a camera or a person and a microphone. It's gorgeous in its ambiguity because, like I said up front, it can inspire any of us out of our deepest rut.

In past reviews of Wim Wenders' work I have been brutally uncomplimentary; he has often struck me as a meandering type who lacks the ability to pull his visions together coherently. But this film has given me a completely new appreciation for his lucidity and ability to convey a profound (yet abstract) thought. The two monologues at the end carry perhaps the strongest messages I've ever seen on film. Simple but resounding.

I give LISBON STORY 10 stars, something which I rarely do even to my favourite films. But this movie is literally perfect, I can't criticize a single thing (edit: OK, after thinking real hard, I suppose there's one flaw... the guitarist's fingers don't exactly match up with what he's playing in one scene. But I think we can all agree that's nitpicking). Enjoy!

Pure Wenders Magic

[robert-temple-1 · 10/10 · 1 April 2008]

What a wonderful, quirky, mesmerising film this is! Sound familiar? It must be Wim Wenders! So much of this film revolves around the discovery of a local music culture, in this case Portuguese. Five years later, Wenders would do the same thing for Cuba with 'The Buena Vista Social Club'. Then he made some elderly Cuban musicians into CD superstars, but earlier, with this film, he had done the same for the Portuguese group Madredeus, and their amazing singer Teresa Salgueiro, who also acts in the film. (Check out her recent solo CD 'Obrigado'.) The main character in this rambling film is a film sound man, played with effortless charm by Ruediger Vogler. The film has lots of kids wandering in and out, accepted as being just as important as the adults, and this echoes Wenders's treatment of Alice in his early film 'Alice in the Cities'. Wenders has a real eye for a cutie, whether an irresistibly charming child or an overwhelmingly alluring woman such as Theresa Salgueiro, and he makes the most out of the impenetrable mystery which they represent as individuals and as types. He teases the ineffable out of the mundane, like Ariadne unwinding her thread. The story, such as it is, is as mysterious as the people in this film. The sound man is urgently summoned to Lisbon by his film-maker friend Friedrich, but arrives to find that he has vanished. He then becomes lost in the wonder of the sounds of Lisbon, going around with his directional microphone over-hearing the most astonishing sounds, sounds which most of us would overlook (or should I say overhear), but which are brought out for us in the sound track by clever manipulation of the levels, or the use of 'sound design'. The entire film then becomes an exploration of the magic of the city, though not of any of its tourist spots, and of the magic of its music and its children. As for Friedrich and what he has been up to, well that would be telling. But it all gets very profound and philosophical. Wenders is never superficial. He is always digging the well a bit deeper. 'There may be gold down there!' And as often as not, there is. Don't miss this if you are a sophisticated film lover, but if you are not, don't expect easy answers or a thrill a minute, because that is not what Wim Wenders is about at all.

Existential issues of just madness in Lisbon old neighborhoods?

[roland-scialom · 25 June 2015]

The existential issue of the director Fredrich who doesn't succeed to finish his movie is something much beyond the understanding of most of the people, including myself. The facts that (1) he quits his house to live in a kind of Romiseta, (2) doesn't make any attempt to meet Phillip Winter to whom he asked to come to Lisbon, (3) is quickly convinced by the Phillip arguments to finish his film, these three facts suggest me that his problem is not an existential problem, but a kind of madness. The way Lisbon is shown through the eyes of Phillip is very nice. It reminds me scenes my youth in Alexandria (Egypt), and how were old neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro almost a century ago. The atmosphere of the music of Madredeus is magic, and Phillip has good reasons to fall in love with Teresa Salgueiro, I would fall in love with her also. The film deserves to be seen by a spectator who is looking for a story which will leave him with more questions than answers, in the company of friends with whom he will try to find answers.

Insulting...

[smakawhat · 2/10 · 19 February 2000]

I had a trip to Portugal recently so I rented this film.

This is definitely an "arty" type film. Virtually every camera scene is a well thought out shot. We have scenes of the country side, the city, the locals, Lisbon etc... Some of scenes are neat, some of them are spectacular, some are nothing to scream about. The movie is also very absent of any dialogue. So basically you have a guy running around looking for his friend. Blah blah, yes we see the aqueduct, the fado singer, streetcars, etc...

The movie is just so damn slow and by the time he runs into his friend, the director of this movie decides to give him a monologue about why cinema is dying and how people don't know what's been happening to film and have been brainwashed by lame directors who don't know the true art of filmmaking. This scene is just a TOTALLY ego padding shot for the director..

This movie is just plain BORING.. Sure the movie LOOKS great at times, but a movie based on great shots with no characters virtualy and no story is not a total movie. Also scenes are just to obscure and make no damn sense because they are just overloaded with artsy symbolism. Also I felt that having sit through 90 minutes and then have a character BERATE me telling me that cinema is a dead art, and that its viewers are all zombies when I just been sitting through this CRAP I found this highly insulting to my intelligence. If all Wender's films are like this which my sister mentioned, I will NEVER watch another one again..

Rating 2 out of 10

Beautiful story

[rsnunez · 10/10 · 3 March 2001]

Besides the excellent photography of the film, the story is -as many other from Wenders- a deep reflection on the role of the media as reflecting "reality" and creating a second order "reality". Especially the inability of the media to "copy" reality, and the unavoidable role of the media as both and intermediary and a creative agent. The soundtrack by Madredeus is great and the whole setting, Lisbon, is worth the ticket

Subtle simplicity, a treat for the ears as well as the eyes...

[rnrjr · 10/10 · 8 January 2003]

This film is Wim Wenders' own anti-Wenders movie, a self-commentary on (even great) overblown moviemaking. After years of making increasingly larger and more grandiose (though excellent) films, with Lisbon Story, Wenders has made a film as much about quiet and reflection as about image.

It's a refreshing exception to most of film as a media, which is driven almost entirely by image, and sometimes leaves our other senses by the wayside.

Seen through the eyes (or more rather heard through the ears) of the main character (a sound and sound effects engineer) we hear, see, and feel Lisbon.

And we see that Wim Wenders can make a small and intimate movie as well as Until the End of the World. This film is slow by Hollywood standards, but slow like a long soak in a hot tub, not something you would want to go any faster.

One of the most beautiful Movies ever!

[armiguero · 10/10 · 6 August 2006]

This movie is really precious, if you are a fan of madredeus music, or films like Amelie, Cinema Paradiso, Faraway So Close! or any other intelligent movie, I am sure that you will appreciate this movie for what it is, a critic on cynicism, the loss of European (and individual) identity, the loss of ideals and friendship and foremost for being a very poetic love story.

The band (Madredeus) plays haunting, moving music, it may move you to tears, please, do yourself a favor and translate the lyrics of the soundtrack "Ainda" and you will find why this movie is so special.

Teresa Salgueiro is the true centerpiece of this incredible movie, her beauty is not of the "Hollywood" type, she is as gorgeous as Amelie Poulan (Audrey Tautau) and equally tender.

****SPOILER**** do not miss the Hilarius scenes with the mosquito and the beautiful views of the city, with this movie, you will find the true meaning of Saudade ;)

Lisbon in broad daylight

[marko-801-196442 · 10/10 · 25 September 2013]

I've recently visited Lisbon with my dear, whose dream was to visit Lisbon (and more). We have watched Lisbon story just before the travel, and all I felt and sensed was the disappointment about the modern cinema. I didn't see Lisbon in movie, except the steep streets and trams. I didn't feel the city. Movie was like a poets story, nice to hear, charming and a bit sad, but I couldn't do anything with it. I couldn't comment it, I couldn't review it, or tell anything about it. I just had to visit Lisbon, not as a tourist, who sees what s/he expects to see, but as a traveler, who sees what s/he observes with own eyes. The movie is about making ten thousand pictures of the city you fell in love with, and still feeling like you can't explain anyone what is so special about that city. About walking bare foot on the beach of the ocean in the dusk, and afterwards telling someone about it. It's about love, without unnecessary words. By accident we came upon a backyard of the house in the movie, we've seen the urinol, the knife grinder and a guy recording sounds of the city in the flea market. We didn't seek them with our viewfinder, but we came upon them while waiting for something to happen. We have seen the reflection of the star in the ocean, saw the shine of the sounds in the broad daylight. And we felt them virgin. And that is what this movie is about...

Funny and Poetic

[DegustateurDeChocolat · 8/10 · 26 September 2015]

Lisbon Story is a movie of rare beauty. It's well crafted, just like an art masterpiece. It's both funny and poetic, as through the entire movie there are several profound considerations about life and about how reality showed through our eyes is just an interpretation among many, reason why Frederich decides to shoot the scenes of his new film attaching the camera on his back. The setting is outstanding as Lisbon is showed in its purest charm thanks to the scenes in the narrow and fascinating streets of the Portoguese capital. The presence of the Fado group of Madredeus gives an even more dreaming touch and it also conveys the melancholic soul of the city and of its inhabitants. An adventurous streak is also present in the movie from the beginning, when Winter's trip to Lisbon resembles that of Ulysses in the Odyssey, to further on, when he wonders around the city catching the various colorful sounds the city offers. At the end of the movie there's also a homage to Fellini who died the year before the film was released: Wenders gives his greeting to one of the most poetic and dreaming directors ever and from whom he definitely took inspiration,at least in this movie.

Lisbon and Madredeus.

[edsfsousa · 8/10 · 22 March 2020]

A hymn to cinema and to its power both because of images and sounds, set in the very heart of Lisbon. In its oldest burghs, Lisbon sets out as the supporting actress the background and soundtrack in Wim Wenders's film.