Travel often broadens the mind, even if it doesn’t seem like like it at first. In this quasi-fictitious journey from one destination to the next, the emphasis is on the conversations and internal monologues people enjoy during this period. The characters in the car travel from Berlin to France by way of South Tyrol; toddler along for the drive.
Arthur & Diana skirts between reality and fiction, given that the triumvirate are a family of two siblings and a son/nephew. Diana (played by director Sara Summa) and Arthur (Robin Summa) bid “auf Wiedersehen” to the child’s father Patrick (Benjamin Schwimm) before voyaging onwards. While driving, the duo realise as much about one another as they do regarding the world around them. As a story, Arthur & Diana is more Inside Llewelyn Davis (Joel & Ethan Coen, 2014) than Homer’s Odyssey, as the intrinsic hurdles are more difficult to overcome than the exteriors. Many of their foibles are led back to their parents, characters nominally responsible for their children’s faults.
Sara Summa acts, directs and edits the motion picture, piecing together an aesthetic cut from the 1990s. Tinged with a dream-like undercurrent, Arthur & Diana carries on, presenting a focus on the dialogue shared between brother and sister. Diana is envious of her sibling’s penchant for relaxation, querying her predilections for mediocrity. The voice-overs mesh into one another, and occasionally it’s difficult to tell one person apart. This is a stylistic choice, and works for the feature.
What’s immediately apparent is the love all three feel for one another. When the small child in the back blows bubbles towards his mother and uncle, it’s done out of a desire to show his affection to the adults. In his enviable innocence, he misses out on the arguments between siblings, two people who struggle to connect over the most basic of conversations. Arthur sees his sibling as controlling, she views her brother as far too relaxed. Beyond a dead father and a mother they visit, they struggle to see similarities in a shared childhood. This corresponds to the age old adage: “children can have very different experiences in the same domicile.”
Franco-Italian filmmaker Sara Summa blurs the lines between fiction and documentary with the right degree of melancholy. A comedic scene is shot from the inside of the car, showcasing a conversation between a man and a traffic warden, neither looking directly at the other in case sentimentality affects their resolve. Sensible to the infant in the back of the vehicle, the brother and sister keep it civil, so the child is unaware of the difficulties ahead of them.
Cars have often served as a metaphor in art, literature and cinema. This provides an outlet for the heroes to journey in: a medium of reflection. Some audience members may find it meandering at points, and there are some plot points that go fairly unresolved such as Diana’s relationship with the parent of her child. To the filmmaker’s credit, Sara Summa never moves away from the characters on the screen, addressing some of their shared reality as part of this collective tent.
The scenery looks splendid, capturing France and Italy in polished, pristine glory. Through a variety of hand-held shots, the creative team depict continental Europe with the magnetism it deserves; luminous blue skies overhanging light-green foliage. By addressing this, Arthur and Diana get closer to nature, ergo, closer to one another. Families – much like the earth – changes with the pull of the tide: shifting and changing direction with every passing day. No man ever returns to the same park, as neither he nor it are the same. Families grow and develop in a similar manner.
Arthur & Diana streams for free during the entire month of December as part of ArteKino – just click here now for more information.
