On Tour
Tournée
Acclaimed French actor Mathieu Amalric is probably best known in the UK for his sinister portrayal of arch baddie, Dominic Greene in Quantum of Solace, but he originally started out as a film director. In On Tour (Tournée), his first directorial effort since 2001, he stars as Joachim, a former television producer who has returned to France after an extended sojourn in America to manage a troupe of New Burlesque dancers he assembled while in the States.
Inspired by a 1913 book The Other Side of the Music Hall, written by Colette,
On Tour is a road movie following a troupe of dancers, many of them older and more weathered than the norm, as they move from port to port, whooping it up, but also drinking and hitting on random bar-hounds to stave off loneliness. Joachim, forever stuffing his pockets with hotel-counter sweets, always asking reception staff in vain to turn down their insipid muzak, is a functional mess: a string of exes, his two young sons and old debtors still fume at his casual selfishness.
Hoping to finish the tour with one final grand show in Paris, their dream goes up in smoke when Joachim is betrayed by an old friend and loses the theatre where they are due to perform. A quick return journey to the capital violently reopens old wounds…
Exposing more than just sequins, tassels and feathers, On Tour is a subtle study of isolation, looking at the less glamorous side of burlesque. Employing documentary style realism and featuring scenes with real-life performance artists, the film takes a look at individuality and finding one’s place in the world. Winning the award for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival this year, the film is both funny and intelligent, sad-eyed and comic and packs an emotional and powerful punch.
On Tour (Tournée)
Dir: Mathieu Amalric 2010 Fr/Subt/111mins
Mathieu Amalric, Miranda Colclasure, Suzanne Ramsey, Dirty Martini
Rod Rhule.
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