Detour

"Der Umweg" is an international feature film by writer and film maker Frouke Fokkema. As director she has received several international awards (such as the Dutch "Golden Calf" Award) for her films "Vigour" and "It will never be spring". With "Der Umweg" she returns to her dramaturgical and cinematic origins.

"Der Umweg" describes a young woman's ideational realization, in which passion and attraction play a key role. She discovers her own purpose through the acquaintance and the works of Thomas Bernhard, the famous Austrian writer. The protagonist Joana is inspired by Frouke Fokkema's personal artistic ideational realization. The film is also about the universal topic of attraction and rejection and the impossibility of ever being really close to someone.

Joana is a young woman trying to find herself after a failed relationship. She finds a kindred soul in Thomas Bernhard, the charismatic personality and his works. She completely succumbs to his obsession with suicide, loneliness and the impossibility of personal relationships. When she decides to act upon an invitation by a chance acquaintance to shepherd goats in the Pyrenees she takes a detour to Austria. Everywhere she goes she comes across quotes from Bernhard's books - it's as if she took a dive into his universe. In the end she visits the writer but getting close is impossible. Joana leaves Thomas Bernhard and goes to Southern France, where she enters an erotic affair with Camille, the owner of the herd of goats. Once he realizes though, that Joana's world is dominated by Thomas Bernhard and that there isn't any space for him, he takes revenge and Joana leaves him. She travels back to Austria and meets Bernhard in Vienna. She declares her love for him but he only comments it with his maxim "things come, and things go". Years later though, he admits his maxim was wrong, since Joana did not forget about him. She's become a writer herself and the band between her and her "master" is stronger than ever.