In 1917, Yangon, just before his wedding, as Edward waits for his bride, Molly, at the port, he suddenly takes the coward’s way out and boards a ship for Singapore. As he embarks on the wildest adventure of his life, the former civil servant is struck with melancholy. Molly, finding her lover’s escape funny, refuses to return to London and goes after him. This whimsical and surreal journey brims with optimism. Love is supposed to overcome anything, but where and when will this journey end? 

Portuguese director Gomes, awarded Best Director at this year’s Cannes Film Festival’s Main Competition, aims for timelessness with this tale. The author, labeled by some as the “last cinephile”, offers a winding odyssey that takes viewers through the textures of the 1910s and early cinema, juxtaposed with 16 mm footage of contemporary East and South Asian streets. It traverses cultural leaps and transcends the borders of time. The plot weaves together the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, the history of the British Empire, post-internet life, anachronisms, and a grand visual encyclopedia of cinema. It will live as long as there are lovers ready to seize control of their fate.