Around the World in Eighty Days

It is tempting to wonder if Jules Verne’s 1873 French classic, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (Around the World in Eighty Days) was a prophetic exploration of the filmic world in which we now live, though ours is certainly tinged with less stereotyping. For example, consider the urgent, racing narrative of Phileas Fogg’s ‘servant’, Passepartout, as he seeks to announce his ‘master’ to the world while venturing to engage enthusiastically with all of it, or the rescue of the Indian Aouda, with whom Fogg later falls in love, not least for all she has done to ensure he finally reaches London and, by a trick of global time, wins his bet. The conclusion of the 62nd San Sebastián International Film Festival this week is a case in point. The awardees were plenty, and among them were the American actor Denzel Washington and the Puerto Rican actor and film producer, Benicio del Toro. Both were awarded with the Donostia Award for the contributions to the film industry. And so it appeared Europe travelled out into the world and the world watched and returned with it to Europe. Beyond the spectacle of American actor George Clooney getting married to a Lebanese-British citizen in the Italian city of Venice, reports on which also graced much of this week’s press, the reach of San Sebastián was a reminder that European cinema travels to explore, to associate and to present itself. Recall the work of Michael Powell – and, via script at least of Emeric Pressburger – filming in the Australian outback, making They’re a Weird Mob (1966) (scripted by Pressburger under his pseudonym Richard Imrie) and Age of Consent (1969). What an interesting use of setting to show contrast but clearly association too, emotional states and narrative meeting not simply in a setting but because European cinema travelled. Whether we wish to make observations on an imperial-colonial association or simply on a personal connection, Powell’s work travelled to discover as much as it travelled to provide a European aesthetic. Of course, we might also observe the rational, financial associations that such journeys entail. We saw this also in San Sebastián. In 2012 San Sebastián International Film Festival created what is called the EuropeLatin America Co-production Forum. The aim was to achieve closer ties with Latin America. Films in Progress are therefore today incorporated into the festival Industry Department, which offers the opportunity to create cooperative projects and to develop international financing and promotion, in which Latin America plays an increasingly important role. Verne’s Fogg returns to the Reform Club in London seemingly very little changed – except, of course, for the exceedingly important difference that he has committed himself to marry the Indian Aouda. Unlike Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, who similarly set off on an illogical and dangerous journey, Fogg appears to remain entirely rational – because, to his mind, he is mostly rewarding Aouda for her support, despite his many references to her beauty. Yet, as we see in Powell’s antipodean explorations, as much as in San Sebastián’s new ties to Latin America, beneath the entirely rational motivations lies both an emotional and personal story.