Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): À noite, para relaxar, vejo um filme em que a realizadora é portuguesa. - At night, to relax, I watch a film in which the director is Portuguese.

À noite = a (preposition “at/to”) + a (definite article “the”) → contracted to à with a grave accent.
So À noite literally means “at night / in the evening” in a habitual or general sense.

À noite → “at night / in the evenings” (time expression)
- À noite, leio. = At night, I read.
A noite (without accent) → “the night” (as a noun phrase)
- A noite está fria. = The night is cold.
De noite → “by night / at night” (also correct, sometimes a bit more neutral or descriptive)
- Trabalho de noite. = I work at night.

In your sentence, À noite is a set phrase meaning “in the evening / at night” as a time adverbial. Using the preposition a (“at”) is what triggers the contraction and the accent.

Could I say À noite eu vejo um filme instead of À noite, vejo um filme?

Yes. Both are grammatically correct:

À noite, vejo um filme.
À noite, eu vejo um filme.

Portuguese is a “null-subject” language, so the pronoun eu is usually omitted because the verb ending -o in vejo already shows it’s “I”.

You might include eu:

for emphasis or contrast:
À noite eu vejo um filme, mas de manhã tu lês um livro.
At night I watch a film, but in the morning you read a book.
or in speech when you want to sound very clear or emphatic.

In neutral statements like your example, leaving eu out is more natural in European Portuguese: À noite, vejo um filme…

Why is it para relaxar and not something like por relaxar or a relaxar?

Para + infinitive is the standard way to express purpose (“in order to …”) in Portuguese.

para relaxar = “(in order) to relax”

So:

À noite, para relaxar, vejo um filme.
At night, to relax, I watch a film.

Using your alternatives:

por relaxar – not idiomatic here; por usually doesn’t introduce purpose with an infinitive like this.
a relaxar – would sound more like a progressive aspect (“relaxing”) than purpose, and even then you’d normally have a verb:
- Estou a relaxar. = I am relaxing.

For purpose, use para + infinitive.

Should it be para relaxar or para me relaxar? Is it wrong to omit me?

Both are possible, but they’re not equally natural here.

para relaxar – very natural and common; the subject (“I”) is clear from context and the main clause (vejo)
para me relaxar – grammatically correct, but sounds more marked, a bit more reflexive and personal (“to relax myself”), and is less common in this exact kind of sentence.

In European Portuguese, relaxar is often used without a reflexive pronoun when you mean “to unwind / relax” in general:

Vou correr para relaxar. = I’m going to run to relax.

So para relaxar is exactly what you want here.

Why is it vejo um filme and not assisto um filme?

In European Portuguese:

ver um filme = watch a film (this is the most natural everyday verb for watching films, TV, etc.)
assistir a um filme = also “watch a film”, but more literally “attend a film / be present at a film showing”, and it requires the preposition a.

So:

Correct EP:
- Vejo um filme.
- Assisto a um filme.
Assisto um filme (without a) is wrong in European Portuguese, although it’s common in Brazilian Portuguese.

Your sentence uses the most natural EP choice: vejo um filme.

What exactly does em que mean here, and why not just que or onde?

em que is a relative construction meaning roughly “in which / where” when it refers to something abstract like a film, situation, context, etc.

um filme em que a realizadora é portuguesa
= “a film in which the director is Portuguese”

Why not:

que alone?
- um filme que a realizadora é portuguesa → incorrect: the relative pronoun would need to be the subject of é, but que can’t fill that role here without a preposition or different structure.
- You’d have to restructure:
  - um filme cuja realizadora é portuguesa (see next question)
  - or um filme que tem uma realizadora portuguesa
onde?
- onde is literally “where” (location). It can be used metaphorically, but em que is more standard and idiomatic when the “place” is something non-physical like a film or situation.
- um filme onde a realizadora é portuguesa can be heard, but em que is safer and more correct/formal in EP.

So em que here is the best, clearest way to say “in which”.

Could I say um filme cuja realizadora é portuguesa instead of um filme em que a realizadora é portuguesa?

Yes, that’s grammatically correct and quite elegant:

um filme em que a realizadora é portuguesa
um filme cuja realizadora é portuguesa

cuja = “whose”, and it agrees in gender and number with the noun that follows (here realizadora, feminine singular).

Differences in feel:

em que version: more neutral and common; sounds very natural in conversation.
cuja version: a bit more formal or literary; you’re explicitly expressing possession: “a film whose director is Portuguese.”

Both are good; in everyday speech, em que is more frequent.

What does realizadora mean, and why is it feminine?

In European Portuguese realizador / realizadora means film director (the person who directs a film).

realizador – masculine
realizadora – feminine

In your sentence:

a realizadora → “the (female) director”

The word is feminine because the person mentioned is female. Portuguese words for professions often have masculine and feminine forms:

professor / professora – male / female teacher
ator / atriz – actor / actress
realizador / realizadora – male / female director

The adjective portuguesa then also appears in the feminine form to agree with realizadora (see next question).

Why is it portuguesa and not português or Portuguese with a capital P?

Three points:

Gender agreement
- realizadora is feminine singular.
- Adjectives must agree, so you use portuguesa (feminine singular) rather than português (masculine).
Forms of the adjective “Portuguese”:
- português – masculine singular
- portuguesa – feminine singular
- portugueses – masculine plural (or mixed group)
- portuguesas – feminine plural
No capital letter
In Portuguese, adjectives of nationality are not capitalized:
- um professor português – a Portuguese teacher
- uma realizadora portuguesa – a Portuguese (female) director
Capital letters are used for country names (Portugal, Espanha), not their adjectival forms.
No article
After the verb ser, nationalities as adjectives usually appear without an article:
- Ela é portuguesa. – She is Portuguese.
- A realizadora é portuguesa. – The director is Portuguese.

Why is the verb é (from ser) used here, and not está (from estar)?

Portuguese uses ser and estar differently:

ser → essential, permanent, defining characteristics
estar → temporary states, conditions, locations, ongoing situations

Nationality is considered a permanent characteristic, so you use ser:

Ela é portuguesa. – She is Portuguese.
A realizadora é portuguesa.

Using estar (A realizadora está portuguesa) would be wrong and unnatural; it would suggest nationality is some temporary state, which it isn’t.

Why is it a realizadora (with a) and not uma realizadora?

The choice between a (definite) and uma (indefinite) signals whether the noun is specific/known or non-specific.

a realizadora = the director – a specific person, known or identifiable in the context of that film (every film has one director; you’re talking about that one).
uma realizadora = a director – one director among many, non-specific.

In um filme em que a realizadora é portuguesa, you’re referring to the director of that film (definite, uniquely associated with the film), so a realizadora is correct and natural.

If you said:

… um filme em que há uma realizadora portuguesa.
= “a film in which there is a Portuguese director”

you’d be introducing “some Portuguese director”, not necessarily the director of the film.

Why is the present tense vejo used, not something like estou a ver?

In Portuguese, the simple present is normally used for:

habitual actions
routines

Your sentence describes a routine:

À noite, para relaxar, vejo um filme.
= “At night, I (usually) watch a film to relax.”

The progressive form estou a ver = “I am watching” (right now / at this moment):

Neste momento, estou a ver um filme.
= Right now, I’m watching a film.

So:

For a general habit → vejo
For something happening at this moment → estou a ver

Why are there commas around para relaxar?

À noite, para relaxar, vejo um filme…

Both À noite and para relaxar are adverbial expressions:

À noite – time (when)
para relaxar – purpose (why)

When you place such adverbial phrases before the main clause, it’s common (and clearer) to separate them with commas:

À noite, vejo um filme.
À noite, para relaxar, vejo um filme.

You could also say it all at the end:

Vejo um filme à noite para relaxar.

In that word order, no commas are needed, because the adverbials are following the main clause in a natural sequence.

Could I say vejo um filme com uma realizadora portuguesa instead of the em que clause? Is there a difference?

You can say:

vejo um filme com uma realizadora portuguesa

but it changes the meaning slightly.

um filme em que a realizadora é portuguesa
- Focus on the fact that the director of that film is Portuguese.
- The director is the essential role associated with the film.
um filme com uma realizadora portuguesa
- Literally “a film with a Portuguese female director”.
- Can sound more like “a film that features / includes a Portuguese director” (for example, in a cast list or as a collaborator), not necessarily the main director of the film.
- Also, uma realizadora is indefinite (“a director”), whereas a realizadora is definite (“the director”).

So the original em que a realizadora é portuguesa is clearer if you mean the director of that film is Portuguese.