The film is a whimsical travelogue that blends eras, cultures, and styles. Set in 1918 Rangoon, Edward, a British civil servant, panics and abandons his fiancée Molly on their wedding day. He flees across Asia, consumed by existential doubt, while the determined Molly humorously pursues him, navigating from Mandalay to Bangkok to Shanghai and sending letters that reveal her eagerness. This cinematic journey juxtaposes scripted scenes, exquisitely shot by Gomes’ regular cinematographer Rui Poças, with documentary-style footage collected by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, who frequently collaborates with Apichatpong Weerasethakul. With an engaging mix of visual styles and emotional depth, Grand Tour captures the essence of searching for love in a sprawling, chaotic world.
Miguel Gomes (Lisbon, 1972) is a distinguished Portuguese filmmaker, known for his innovative narrative approach and hybrid cinematic style. His sixth feature, Grand Tour, premiered in the Competition Section at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Best Director Award. Gomes began his career with short films before making his feature debut with The Face You Deserve (2004). His subsequent works, including Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto (2008) and Tabu (2012)—which won the Alfred Bauer and FIPRESCI awards at the Berlin Film Festival—highlight his unique ability to blend fiction and documentary, exploring themes of personal and collective memory, history, and identity with a nostalgic and playful tone. His ambitious Arabian Nights trilogy (2015), with its fragmented narrative structure, reinvents classic stories, while The Tsugua Diaries (2021), a collaboration with Maureen Fazendeiro, continues to experiment with storytelling conventions. Retrospectives of his work have been presented in countries including Austria, Italy, Spain, Germany, and the United States. A graduate of the Lisbon School of Film and Theatre, Gomes is also a former film critic.
