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GuardianSep 29Preview

The Portuguese House review – picturesque, polite drama of secrets and revelations at a country estate

Spanish drama about people leaving their old lives behind plays out like a literary novel, with Manolo Solo excellent as a discombobulated gardenerOut of the blue, a woman walks out on her husband. Bags packed and ready to go, at the last moment she crumples up the letter she has written to him and vanishes from their Madrid flat. So begins this drama featuring not one but three characters disappearing without a trace from their lives; it sounds soap opera-ish, but mostly The Portuguese House unfolds as polite elegant drama, told with such rich novelistic detail it often feels like it’s getting into the minds of the characters.Manolo Solo gives an excellent performance as the left-behind husband, Fernando, an introspective mild-mannered geography professor. After his wife’s disappearance, Fernando goes on holiday to Portugal, where he meets a gardener called Manuel. When Manuel drops dea

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