Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Este filme é muito visto.

ser + past participle usually describes a general, permanent or habitual fact:
- Este filme é muito visto. → This film is widely watched (in general, as a fact).
estar + past participle usually describes a current state or temporary condition:
- A porta está fechada. → The door is (currently) closed.

Here the idea is “this film is (in general) watched a lot”, not a temporary state, so é is the natural choice.

Note: Está muito visto is also an idiomatic expression in Portugal meaning something like “this has been seen too many times / it’s overused / people are tired of it.” That is a different meaning from é muito visto.

What exactly is visto here? Is it an adjective or a verb form?

Visto is the past participle of the verb ver (to see / watch).

Verb: ver → past participle: visto
Structure: ser + past participle → passive voice

So é visto is a passive construction meaning “is seen / is watched”. It behaves grammatically like both:

a verb form (because it builds the passive: é visto por muita gente)
and an adjective (it agrees with the noun in gender and number: filme visto, série vista, etc.).

Why is it muito visto and not visto muito?

In this sentence muito is an adverb of degree (“a lot / very much”) that modifies the participle/adjective visto.

Adverbs like muito normally come before adjectives and past participles:
- muito bom (very good)
- muito visto (seen a lot)

Visto muito would sound wrong or at least very odd in this context.
If you want to put something after visto, you typically change the structure, for example:

Este filme é visto muitas vezes. → “This film is seen many times.”
Este filme é visto por muitas pessoas. → “This film is seen by many people.”

Does visto agree with filme? How would the sentence change in the plural or with a feminine noun?

Yes. In the passive with ser, the past participle agrees with the subject in gender and number.

Masculine singular:
- Este filme é muito visto.
Masculine plural:
- Estes filmes são muito vistos.
Feminine singular:
- Esta série é muito vista.
Feminine plural:
- Estas séries são muito vistas.

Only muito (as an adverb) stays the same; visto changes its ending to match the noun.

What is the difference between é muito visto, foi muito visto and tem sido muito visto?

All three are passive, but with different time references:

é muito visto
Present passive. General, timeless or habitual fact:
- “This film is (generally) watched a lot.”
foi muito visto
Simple past passive. Refers to a completed situation in the past:
- “This film was watched a lot (when it came out / last year / at that time).”
tem sido muito visto
Present perfect passive. Repeated or ongoing situation up to now:
- “This film has been watched a lot (recently / lately / over the last few months).”

Choice depends on whether you mean “in general”, “in the past”, or “recently / up to now”.

Could I say Este filme é muito assistido instead of é muito visto?

You can, but there are nuances and regional preferences:

ver um filme = to watch/see a film
Very common everywhere in Portuguese, including Portugal.
assistir (a) um filme = to watch a film
Also correct; in European Portuguese the preposition a is normally kept:
- Assistir a um filme.

The passive:

Este filme é muito assistido.
Is grammatically fine and understandable: “This film is much watched.”

Usage notes:

In Brazilian Portuguese, assistir (a) in this sense is extremely common, and muito assistido sounds very natural.
In European Portuguese, é muito visto is more neutral and idiomatic in everyday speech, especially with filme. É muito assistido is possible, but less common in casual conversation.

What does muito mean here, and why not muitos?

Here muito is an adverb of degree, modifying visto:

muito visto → “seen a lot / widely watched”

As an adverb, muito is invariable: it does not change for gender or number.

Compare:

muito visto → adverb + participle/adjective (“very / a lot”)
muitas pessoas → adjective + noun (“many people”)
muitas vezes → adjective + noun (“many times”)

So:

Este filme é muito visto. ✓
Este filme é muitos vistos. ✗ (ungrammatical)
You would only use the plural muitos/muitas before a plural noun (muitas pessoas, muitas vezes, etc.).

What is the active-voice equivalent of Este filme é muito visto?

A natural active version would be:

Muitas pessoas veem este filme.
(“Many people watch this film.”)

Other possible equivalents:

Muita gente vê este filme.
Este filme é visto por muitas pessoas. → still passive, but with an explicit por phrase.

So Este filme é muito visto essentially means “A lot of people watch this film.”

How is Este filme é muito visto pronounced in European Portuguese?

Approximate IPA (European Portuguese):

Este → [ˈeʃt(ɨ)] (the final e is very reduced, often almost inaudible)
filme → [ˈfiɫm(ɨ)] (dark l, reduced final e)
é → [ˈɛ]
muito → [ˈmũjtu] (nasal ũ, glide j)
visto → [ˈviʃtu] (the s between vowels/consonants is [ʃ] in Portugal)

Full sentence (connected speech):
Este filme é muito visto. → [ˈeʃtɨ ˈfiɫmɨ ˈɛ ˈmũjtu ˈviʃtu]

Could visto here mean something like “well-regarded” or “well thought of”?

Not by itself. In Este filme é muito visto, visto simply means “seen / watched”.

“Well-regarded / well thought of” is usually expressed with bem visto:

Este filme é muito bem visto pela crítica.
→ “This film is very well regarded by critics.”

So:

muito visto = seen a lot (many people watch it)
muito bem visto = very well regarded (people think highly of it)

The addition of bem changes the meaning significantly.

What’s the difference between este filme, esse filme and aquele filme in European Portuguese?

In standard European Portuguese:

este filme
- “this film” – close to the speaker (physically or in the immediate context).
esse filme
- “that film” – closer to the person you are talking to, or already mentioned in the conversation.
aquele filme
- “that film (over there)” – farther away from both speaker and listener, or more distant in time/mental space.

In actual conversation, especially when you’re just introducing something you’re holding, watching or about to discuss, este filme is the default for “this film” in Portugal.

I’ve seen visto que and visto meaning “visa”. Are these related to visto in é muito visto?

They are the same written word, but used differently:

visto (past participle of ver)
- é muito visto → “is much seen / widely watched”
- Same form you have in Este filme é muito visto.
visto (noun) = “visa” (in a passport)
- Pedi um visto para entrar no país. → “I applied for a visa to enter the country.”
visto que = “since / given that / seeing that” (conjunction)
- Visto que chove, ficamos em casa. → “Since it’s raining, we’ll stay home.”

They are historically related to the verb ver, but function as different parts of speech in modern Portuguese. In Este filme é muito visto, only the past participle sense (“seen”) is relevant.