The film “Grand Tour”, by Portuguese director Miguel Gomes, is part of the official competition of the Cannes Film Festival, which takes place in May in France, according to the program announced today.
This is the first time Miguel Gomes has competed for the Palme d’Or, but the director’s films have been a regular presence at Cannes, particularly in the Directors’ Fortnight, where he presented “That dear month of August” (2008), “A thousand and one nights” (2015) and “Otsoga Diaries” (2021), co-directed with Maureen Fazendeiro.
At the presentation of the program, the festival’s general director, Thierry Frémaux, underlined “the great visual virtuosity” of Miguel Gomes’ film, which stars Crista Alfaiate and Gonçalo Waddington and is co-produced by Italy, France, Germany, China and Japan.
“Grand Tour” is also “the first Portuguese film to compete for the Palme d’Or in 18 years,” the production company Uma Pedra no Sapato said in a statement. Eighteen years ago, in 2006, Pedro Costa’s “Juventude em Marcha” was in the feature film competition.
Set at the beginning of the 20th century, the story follows Edward, a civil servant in the British Empire, who runs away from his fiancée Molly on the day she arrives for the wedding.
“On his travels, however, panic gives way to melancholy. Contemplating the emptiness of his existence, the cowardly Edward wonders what happened to Molly… Challenged by Edward’s impulse and determined to marry him, Molly follows the trail of her fiancé on the run through this Asian ‘Grand Tour'”, says the synopsis.
The movie was shot in a studio in Rome, but was also filmed in Lisbon and in various parts of Asia. The script was written by Miguel Gomes, Mariana Ricardo, Telmo Churro and Maureen Fazendeiro.
Miguel Gomes is currently working on the projects “Selvajaria”, based on the book “Os sertões” by the Brazilian writer Euclides da Cunha, and “Cantiga”, based on the illustrated book “Romance” (2013) by the French author Blexbolex.
The official competition also includes “Megalopolis”, an ambitious independent project by Francis Ford Coppola that is over 40 years old, “The Shrouds” by David Cronenberg, “Motel Destino” by Brazilian director Karim Ainouz, “Bird” by Andrea Arnold, “Emilia Perez” by Jacques Audiard and “Kinds of Kindness” by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, again starring Emma Stone.
The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will take place from May 14 to 25.
