Travels With My Aunt is about a man called Henry Pulling who's mother has just died (Alec McCowen) and at the funeral his Aunt Augusta played by Maggie Smith who says she raised him and not his mother. She has an African boyfriend called Zachery who is waiting for her, she is then received a package containing a served finger who belongs to her true love Ercole along with a note saying they will be reunited with payment of $100,000. Augusta asks if Henry can accompany her to Paris aware that she is has pay ransom, and its just as the title suggests 'Travels with my Aunt'
Firstly it has Maggie Smith in it, so you're immediately gonna enjoy it, plus its Maggie Smith as more of herself than anything you know what I mean if you watched her in interviews particularly back in the day. She's so acid tongue and witty, that's the Maggie that isn't shown that often and thats why I love it so much. Alex McCowen plays the opposite of Maggie Smith's character Augusta, he's shy, straight guy in the comedy. The character dynamic is amazing love how different they are to each other and it makes it so much more funny. The costumes are amazing aswell, love all the clothes Maggie wears in this film, its set in the 70's and that's an interesting and fun era of fashion and film. The fact that Henry is younger than Augusta and he's much more mature is one of the things that makes me love Augusta and Maggie Smith that much more shes's internally youthful.
The minor characters they meet on the journeys are just wonderful, they're such full of colour. Tooley is a firm favorite she's so quirky and adorable one of my favorite scenes was when she was flirting and encouraging Henry to smoke marijuana. She reminds me of Danielle Foussard from To Catch A Thief that cheeky, funny, slightly naughty girl and that kinda character is always fun to me. All the interesting funny peculiar people they encounter are just so brilliant, like the Taxi driver they meet as soon as they get to Paris he's so positive and can't speak that much English its so accurate its hilarious because we've all met someone like that when we go to different countries and its so bonkers you've gotta laugh at it.
There is a serious side to it in terms of Augusta and the genuine of her being Henry's Aunt as it can be wishy washy, because throughout the film you're questioning whether or not she's his Aunt, but I'd like it to be one of those make of it what you will moments of film and storytelling. Another serious part of the story is, the problem with Augusta's relationships and how she feels about them. I loved that Augusta has that mind of an 18 year old, and doesn't give a thought about long term marriages, and focusing on the hear and now of relationships and flings. I just hope that I'm like that when I'm at that age. Adding that the 1970's of film and I think I've said this before, but its quite a serious era of film I feel it had much more of the dialogue and styles we see now, and I haven't seen that many 1970s films so its a good one to watch of those who haven't seen many.
If you watched The Lady In The Van or read the review I did #promo then you'll see the similarities of characters in them both. Maggie is a fantastic Actress and if you loved The Lady In The Van then you'll love this film, just think of Travels with my Aunt as a younger version of Maggie in The Lady In The Van. Alec McCowen was amazing in it, just total opposites from each other, and I love that, just found out Alec McCowen past away only a month ago, so RIP. Give this film a go as its so funny with its witty lines, and brilliant Acting talents from Maggie Smith and Alec McCowen.
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