The Detour

The Detour describes the coming to consciousness of a young woman in which passion and attraction play an important role. Through the work of the famous Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard and the acquaintance of this charismatic personality, she learns about her own destiny as a writer. The main character of Joana is inspired by Frouke Fokkema's personal artistic awareness. But the film is also about the universal round of attraction and rejection and the impossibility of being really close to the one another. Joana is a young woman who finds herself without a foothold after a failed relationship. She experiences a kindred spirit in the person and work of the writer Thomas Bernhard. She completely succumbs to his obsessions of suicide, loneliness and the impossibility of personal ties. When she decides to accept the invitation of a chance acquaintance to go to the Pyrenees to herd goats, she detours through Austria. Everywhere she goes she encounters quotes from Bernhard's books - it is as if she is immersed in his universe.