Irreversível

Irreversível is a very well organised and structured television series, and I cried and got goosebumps several times. It's amazing what the Portuguese can produce with so little investment in these projects. The location where it is filmed, Figueira da Foz (I think), is very beautiful and serene and the production photography has done an excellent job. The soundtrack is also very good and coherent with the emotional weight of the themes addressed. Excellent performances from Miguel Amorim and Helena Caldeira, some of the best actors of the new Portuguese generation. And what can we say about Paula Magalhães, who at 31 managed to play a 17-year-old girl?

Cons: there's a scene at the beginning where the inspector is smoking on a cliff and drops his cigarette butt on the ground.... ridiculous, and in Portugal it's a misdemeanour! Apart from that, I found the performance of Margarida Vilanova (a psychologist and grieving mother) too dramatic, her story could have been developed further and her relationship with the inspector could have been explored in more depth, but the production preferred minute-long scenes in which the actress presents herself with a look that is too empty for someone who is still managing to get up every day to help others.