QUICK AND DIRTY: LIVE FROM CANNES
The vehicle of the title refers to one driven by Czech Ester (Anna Geislerová) across Italy, her son David (David Vostrčil) for company. The pair have stolen the car from a married couple considering some of their rude comments about David’s down sydrome, and all appears to be going well. They pick up Zuza (Juliana Brutovská-Oľhová) another Eastern European traveller, someone Ester’s son bonds with. But when Zuza leaves them, the child starts acting violently towards the parent, leading Ester to wonder if she can continue caring for him the way she has.
There’s a barely a story to this picture: the charm of Caravan stems from the mother and child relationship. Considered something of an exotic pleasure in Italy due to her fair skin and blond hair, Ester receives male admirers, even embarking on a date with farmer Tommaso (Giandomenico Cupaiulo). The more she lets herself go, the more she asks how much easier her life would be without David. But a parent’s love outweighs any lust.
Zuza brings another energy to the caravan, a punkier, more bohemian philosophy on life. She has pink tinges in her hair, reminiscent of Ramona Flowers from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright,2010), and strikes up a bond. Such is their friendship Ester feels comfortable leaving them in order to engage in a carnal exercise. When she returns to them, David is eating an egg, which will cause diarrhoea Ester will have to clean up, leading her to shoot facial daggers at the other woman. Zuza herself grows tired of David, a boy who flicks at her hair.
David never picks up on social clues. He tries to masturbate on the beach, despite being in the presence of young children, and punches his mother when Zuza jokes that he should “fight” her. This reportedly stems from writer and director Zuzana Kirchnerová-Špidlová’s homelife, herself a parent to an autistic child. Caravan
Adding to the reality of the work is the fact that Ester has had to give up a life of sex for a role as a single parent. When a sleazy man makes an advance at her, commenting on her “sunburn”, she gives in to his advances, keen to be pleasured. Money has become tighter, so Ester needs to work as a labourer to extend their vacation. When employer/paramour Tommaso asks her about what David signifies, the name is etched into her arm, she stands silently. Clearly, she has to overcome her own prejudice. The lack of words suggest some level of shame.
Altough occasionally static and repetitive, this handheld way of shooting the movie adds another dimension to the work: a documentary aspect. By shooting it this way, Kirchnerová-Špidlová distances herself further from the artifice of Hollywood cinema to create something more ordinary looking. But that’s precisely the point, because Ester’s story, although heightened by the presence of a stolen vehicle, is a regular tale. Many guardians act like caretakers to teenagers with intellectual disabilities, driving them to bouts of fatigue. Yet only the most cold-hearted could deny the love David offers, his eyes gleaming with affection. Free from the world, Ester is at her most charming when it’s just the pair of them, a mother and son, a guardian and disciple. Ester and David.
Caravan just premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 78th Festival de Cannes.
