The philosopher Edmund Burke has fled London, debt collectors and a ramping midlife crisis to go on a grand tour of the Alps to rewrite his book on the Sublime in this 18th century road movie.
Rampant debt and a significant midlife crisis send philosopher Edmund Burke (Antony Langdon) fleeing from London to embark on an expedition through the French Alps. He brings along a servant on loan from his brother's plantation in the West Indies, a young indigenous woman named Awak (Nathalia Acevedo from Post Tenebras Lux). Together they set out to discover the sublime in this 18th-century road movie. Ill-equipped for the outdoor life, Burke whinges the days away while Awak carries all their supplies and makes sure his face is perpetually powdered. With ample snark and a masterful sense of natural light, Jacobi constructs each scene of his debut feature with a sense of humour and a delicate frame. Will Burke find a fitting subject for his philosophical inquiry in the immensity of Mother Nature's beauty? Or will the natural world become his master in the end?—iffr
The year 1769. The philosopher Edmund Burke has fled London, debt collectors and a ramping midlife crisis to go on a grandtour of the Alps to rewrite his book on the Sublime in this 18. century roadmovie.
Stakes are high - Burke has lost everything in risky colonial investments and his future depends on the success of the new edition of his youth masterpiece and his bold face-to-face meeting with nature. Having lost his staff he is traveling only with a native servant on loan from his brother's plantation in the west indies. The trip is a disaster - Burke has never been outside the city and finds himself lost in Provence struggling to even find the Alps. Furthermore he discovers that he hates nature - it stings, itches and fails to give him any enlightenment. Meanwhile his servant is deeply involved with everything around her and Burke grows bitter and jealous of her easy connection to the wild elements. Burke's increasingly desperate and pathetic attempt to unlock the mysteries of the sublime, turns suicidal when he discovers a glacier of sparkling ice that leads up to a divine snow covered peak that he begins to climb thinking he can prove himself the master of nature and revenge the discomforts it has bestowed upon him.
In 'The Trouble with Nature' one man's failure to comprehend nature mirrors our own.It is a highly fictional and absurd allegory of our human relation to the natural world starring one of the principal architects of modern capitalist thinking - Edmund Burke (1729 -1797)
