Travels with My Aunt

After his mother's funeral, Henry waits among the mourners at Islington Cemetery. Augusta Bertram approaches him, claiming to be his aunt and revealing that the woman who raised him was not his biological mother. She hints at a larger family secret and lures him into joining her on a journey.

Augusta leads Henry to her apartment, where a package arrived for her allegedly containing the severed finger of her true love, along with a ransom note promising a reunion upon payment. She explains that a larger scheme will require a $100,000 payment, and Henry finds himself drawn into a dangerous plan. The package sets the stakes high and makes Henry complicit in her scheme.

Augusta asks Henry to accompany her to Paris, and he agrees, unaware that she is smuggling £50,000 out of England for Crowder in exchange for a fee she can use toward the ransom. The plan blends personal intrigue with criminal enterprise, and Henry's trust is continually tested. The journey marks the start of a high-stakes manipulation.

They board the Orient Express to Paris, and Henry meets Tooley, a free-spirited American hippie who gets him to smoke marijuana in her compartment. The train journey becomes a backdrop for growing tension between Augusta and Henry and hints at the criminal undercurrents of their trip.

When the train reaches Milan, Augusta is greeted at the station by Visconti's son Mario, who presents her with flowers and an ear that supposedly belongs to Visconti. The bizarre exchange foreshadows the deception surrounding true identities and the ransom plot.

At the Turkish border, officials confiscate the money Augusta is carrying and send her and Henry back to Paris. The loss of funds stalls the plan and heightens the urgency of finding alternate means to complete the ransom.

Augusta seeks money from Achille Dambreuse, but the wealthy Frenchman dies of a heart attack in her hotel suite. An attempt to extort 1 million francs from Dambreuse's widow fails, showing the fragility of Augusta's schemes.

After Dambreuse's death, Augusta takes a portrait she claims was painted by Modigliani from his home, planning to sell it to raise funds for the ransom. The theft underscores her willingness to manipulate people and artifacts for money.

After a furious argument, Augusta lets slip that Henry is Visconti's 'other son.' He and Wordsworth then exchange neatly cut pages of the Barcelona telephone directory for the money in the package, effectively concealing the ransom under a clever ruse. The revelation reframes their relationships and goals.

The painting is sold to Crowder, and Augusta, Henry, and Wordsworth sail to North Africa on a fishing boat to deliver the ransom and reunite with Visconti. The voyage intensifies the tension as loyalties and threats converge.

Visconti removes his bandages, revealing that his ear and finger are intact, signaling that he has been orchestrating the scheme to separate Augusta from her money. The unmasking confirms his role as mastermind and prompts Henry to reassess his allies.

Henry confesses that he deduced Augusta is his biological mother, while Augusta suggests using the money to travel rather than to buy back the portrait. The final coin toss decides their fate, and the film ends on a freeze-frame as Wordsworth flips the coin. The ending leaves loyalties and futures unresolved.