‘Caravan’ review: A mother and her disabled son take to the road in Italy

Dir: Zuzana Kirchnerova. Czech Republic/Slovakia/Italy. 2025. 103 mins

The burden of care is all-consuming in Caravan. Zuzana Kirchnerova’s accomplished debut feature charts the bond between a weary mother and her disabled son as they embark on a liberating road trip. Sensitive handling draws out the complex emotions at in a film which focuses on price of family obliigation in a similar way to Kirchnerova’s short film Baba (2008) which won the Cinefondation prize at Cannes in 2009. The director herself is the mother of a disabled son and Caravan confronts the feelings of guilt, shame and frustration of a parent whose whole world revolves around the needs of her child.

A gentle, effective humanist drama

This deeply personal story should earn sustained festival exposure following a world premiere in Un Certain Regard, with CinemArt scheduled to release in the Czech Republic in late August. Caravan is very much in the social realist tradition of the Dardenne brothers and has affinities with Agnes Varda’s Vagabond (1985). Marked by its emotional truths and finely judged performances,  Caravan ultimately emerges as a gentle, effective humanist drama. 

Ester (Ana Geislerova) is a single-mother to David (David Vodstrcil), a non-verbal adolescent with Down’s Syndrome and autism. She has welcomed the chance to join old friend Petra (Plodkova) and her family on holiday in Italy. Kirchnerova sets the scene of a summer idyll with a soundtrack of gently lapping waves and the call of seagulls. Sunlight shimmers across the sea as they enjoy a lazy afternoon at the beach. Ester reassures David that he will make friends and feel at ease but the holiday becomes a rude awakening.

Petra, meanwhile, pities Ester whilst her Italian husband Tomasso (Giandomenico Cupaiulo) offers trite suggestions to make Ester’s life better. Ester overhears one of Petra’s children saying, “I don’t want him here.”

Caravan captures the reality of how unpredictable David can be as he switches from loving and playful to wilful and violent. Ester carries the signs of scratches and bites . She spends her life apologising and clearing up any mess but we never lose sight of the love that guides her.

Seizing the chance to escape, Ester and David take to the road in an old caravan, driving the backwaters of Calabria and acquiring a travelling companion in the free-spirited Zuza (Juliana Brutovska) who is entirely at ease with David.  Breaking out of their routine creates a sense of freedom. Kirchnerova provides lyrical moments in which both mother and son have time to stop and reflect. There are nights of dancing and even the tentative possibility of a romance between Ester and Marco (Mario Russo) who manages immigrant farm workers.  Ester is granted a guilty taste of the life she might have beyond mother and care-giver. She is also painfully aware of the signs that David is maturing into a young man and questions how much longer she can carry on.

Ana Geislerova’s commanding central performance conveys both the strength and vulnerability of Ester. She brings a strained steeliness to the character but also a sense of how quickly that might crumble in the face of a kind word or a human touch. Chosen after a lengthy casting process, non-professional Down’s syndrome actor David Vodstrcil (who has the look of a young Gilbert Grape-era Leonardo Di Caprio) invests David with an endearing charm and poignancy. The intimate bond between characters and between performers is the bedrock of the film.

.Changes in the weather reflect emotional upheavals but the similarities seem most pronounced  in a central character marginalised by the mainstream, self-reliant and subject to both the kindness and cruelty of strangers as she travels into unknown territory.