GYPO

UK, 2005, 100 minutes, Colour.
Pauline Mc Lynn, Paul Mc Gann, Chloe Sirene, Rula Lenska, Tamzyn Dunstone.
Directed by Jan Dunn.

Gypo is a derogatory term for members of the Romany community who have migrated to England. The setting for this film is Margate on the North Sea coast (the scene for The Last Resort which has many thematic resemblances to this film).

For thirty minutes, Gypo focuses on Helen, a young grandmother whose daughter, Kelly, has a young baby that she really couldn’t care less about. Helen’s husband, Paul, is a silent type who works as a carpet-layer. Helen manages, criticises, has some peace at a night class for sculpture and works nights at the local supermarket. She befriends a young Czech woman, Tasha, who works with her daughter, helps her and her mother when they are mugged and tries to help them when they are suddenly abducted to a Continental ferry. Where to from here?

The name, Paul, comes up in pebbles on the shore and we spend the next 30 minutes looking at Paul’s life and seeing the same events and listening to a shrill Helen from his viewpoint. He now says much more, much of it aggressive towards Helen, much of it insulting and racist towards Tasha. We see him at work, his infidelity and his tiring of his life.

Then, in pebbles, Tasha, and 30 minutes, on her life as a migrant from the Czech Republic, living with her mother in a caravan, afraid that her abusive father and husband will turn up. We see her devotion to her mother, her friendship with Helen, and its surprisingly growing into something more. And, finally, we see what the crisis is that Helen had to deal with and what eventuates for Tasha and her mother.

Three stories, three different points of view, the clever interweaving of all the threads. The performances, especially from Pauline Mc Lynn (familiar to many from Father Ted) are convincing. Paul Mc Gann embodies the taciturn and angry British man. Chloe Sirene is charming as Tasha.

The style of the film (using the Dogme manifesto of no artificial lighting etc and straightforward narrative) suits the subject and makes a small-budget film quite persuasive.

1. A small-budget British film, made in thirteen days? Impact for Britain, for European audiences? Universal themes?

2. The impact of the small budget, locations, cast, improvisation? Visual style? The use of the Dogme style with no artificial light, music?

3. The locations, Margate, the coastal town in winter, homes, stores, the streets, clubs? The atmosphere of the North Sea?

4. The structure and the three stories, the different perspectives on the same themes, perspectives on people, situations?

5. Helen, in herself, her age, keeping busy, the tension with her husband, giving him things to do, the sexual relationship, rebuffing his affection, his forcing himself on her? Her arguments with her daughter? Looking after her daughter’s baby? Matter-of-fact, at work, anxious, the meals, the discussions, Paul’s attack on foreigners? Her relief in the art class? Her friends? Meeting Tasha at home, Tasha’s mother and their being attacked, her helping? Looking after the mother? Tasha’s pass at her? The later visits? The bonds? Finally going to the caravan, searching for Tasha? The gaps filled in later? Going to the ferry, the surliness of the woman in the kiosk, seeing the boat, calling out?

6. Paul, in himself, age, quiet, as seen from Helen’s perspective, his own perspective? His work, hiring Iraqi illegal, paying him? His carpet-fitting work, feeling that foreigners were taking the jobs? Self-absorption? Recognising Tasha as a former prostitute, abusive of her at the table? His xenophobia? His going with the other woman? His work, the carpets, his fellow workers, payment? His daughter, the baby? His being tired, the decision to leave?

7. Tasha, the Czech gypsy background, in England with her mother, fleeing her father, her husband? Living in the caravan with her mother? Study, the friendship with Kelly, the visits? The encounter with Paul, memories of her past? The meals, the insults? The trouble, the mother being bashed, Helen’s visits, her making a pass at her, Helen coming back, the night together? The experience? The men, their arrival, the brutality? Hurrying to the boat, diving off, safety? Meeting Helen? A future?

8. The glimpses of Kelly, tough, her daughter, self-absorption – but more kindly with her friends? Clashes with her mother? Arguing against her father?

9. The workplace, Helen and her friends, the supermarket, the shifts, the night work?

10. Tasha’s mother, the migrant, language, attacked, fears? Love for her daughter? The two men and their brutality?

11. Life in Margate, ordinary people, the sullenness of the woman at the port?

12. Ordinary British people, foreign migrants, ordinary situations, crises, coping, problems solved or not?