A love story meets a devilish pursuit, and documentary street scenes collide with stylised silent film aesthetics. True to its name, Grand Tour offers a grand tour of the wonders of cinema, landscape, and the human heart. Miguel Gomes received the Best Director Award at last year’s Cannes Film Festival for this work, inspired by the travel stories of British author W. Somerset Maugham.
The story begins around World War I in the Port of Rangoon, where a British civil servant waits for his fiancée to arrive. The couple has not seen each other for seven years, and while waiting, the man decides to flee. A journey begins across countries, jungles, and cold weather, through Singapore, Bangkok, Saigon, Manila, and Osaka. The fiancée sets off in pursuit and sends telegrams to her betrothed as she chases him.
This black-and-white story is a joyful leap – in good and bad – to a more innocent time. However, the sweet images and caricatured characters acquire a contemporary interpretative frame as Gomes inserts shots of modern Asian cities between scenes. The time layers are equally present in today’s metropolises as in Gomes’ film.
Black-and-white fiction and colourful documentary images underscore each other’s power. The director’s love for cinema is stronger than the romantic love of his protagonists.
Kaisu Tervonen