It often helps going into a movie ‘cold’ – and that helped me thoroughly enjoy The Last Journey. As you’re reading this then warning: spoilers ahead. If you’re over 40, a Francophile, looking for 1.5 hours of fabulous scenery OR want to get out of the heat then stop reading and go and see The Last Journey.
The Last Journey is a documentary about ageing parents; yes, it’s marginally sad, but overall it’s a reminder that life is short and so enjoy the heck out of it. Easier said than done these days. Anyway, the aged parent – who looks remarkably like Timothy Spall but isn’t – is ailing; since retirement he’s failed to fulfil the promise of Golden Years and languishes in a favourite chair. In steps son who has planned a trip that recreates familial holidays to France in the 1960s (?). A trip, that son hopes, will ignite dad’s zest for life.
Son buddies with friend – apparently the two are a well-known Swedish journalists and tv hosts Filip Hammar and Fredrik Wikingsson. The trip is replete with mishaps, jokes and amazing ‘reconstructions’ of past holidays.
The camera loving captures the orange Renault’s trek from Sweden through France to the seaside town of Beaulieu-sur-Mer. Surely this film is a homage to all things French – food, wine, lifestyle – and European. The ease with which the trio switch from Swedish to French and English is an envious testament to Euro-living. And oh, the film is subtitled…if you’re not a fan of subtitles, like me, never fear, they don’t interrupt the narrative. The filmic overlay of the past … whether it be photos or snippets from dad Lars’ diaries, verbal and written … fills narrative gaps blending past and present.
By the end of the trip, Lars has regained some of his zest, and son Filip has come to fully realise his fathers’ fragility – but with a twist. It’s a reality check for all of us – life does not unfold as we all hope or expect. Enough spoilers.
The Last Journey is an homage to life. Part travelogue, part fantasy, part reality, the film is probably most appreciated by those of a certain age. If it doesn’t inspire you to book a trip to Europe then I don’t know what will. And yes, it’s a bit of a tear-jerker but in the best possible way.
The Last Journey is screening from 27th February in Brisbane. Running Time 1 hour 35 minutes.
