Actress Ana Geislerova may be something of a household name in the Czech Republic, where she broke out in the mid-’90s and then scooped up lots of awards in the early aughts with films like Innocence and Something Like Happiness. But beyond co-starring with Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan in the 2016 Nazi assassination flick Anthropoid, she remains virtually unknown outside of her homeland.  

That’s unfortunate, because based on her performance in Zuzana Kirchnerova’s tough and tender feature debut, Caravan, she’s a talent who deserves wider acclaim. As Ester, a single mother on a road trip in Italy with her disabled teenage son, David (David Vodstrcil), Geislerova channels love, despair, pain, sensuality and deep frustration. Desperate to remain close to her son, but also to live on her own terms, Ester grows increasingly aware of the fact that she may soon have to let David live his own life as well.

Kirchnerova, who previously directed documentaries, was inspired by her own story raising a child with Down syndrome and autism, penning a script with co-writers Tomas Bojar and Kristina Majova that feels both lived-in and extremely perceptive. She never overdramatizes what happens, nor does she downplay the difficulty Ester faces from day to day.

But she also reveals the warmth and affection of a struggling mother who’s able to find much happiness in the company of her son, even if she can’t communicate with him as parents with neurotypical children do. At times, it’s as if Ester and David were speaking a secret language, creating a special bond those around them will never understand.

The film begins with the two staying at the bucolic summer home of Italian friends whom Ester has known for years. But David’s volatile behavior, which includes smashing a glass coffee table to pieces in front of the other children, quickly turns them into unwelcome guests. Their hosts decide to move them to a vintage mobile home on the lawn, but Ester won’t have it. In the middle of the night, she steals the car keys and hits the road, whisking David away towards parts unknown.

The rest of Caravan follows mother and son as they trek through southern Italy, picking up a punkish Slovakian hitchhiker, Zuza (Juliana Brutovska), along the way. Now they’re an unruly trio looking for places to park the camper and hit the beach, as well as enough money to pay for the rest of their vacation. This obliges Ester to seek employment as a seasonal laborer, making deals with shady Calabrian farmers to earn a few extra bucks.

We never learn anything about Ester’s past, nor about David’s father and what happened to him. Kirchnerova’s movie is very much about the present — about how Ester deals with the daily grind of caring for David, who oscillates between moments of playful calm and sudden violence. He’s already hit puberty and can be as moody as your average teen. But he can also be unpredictable, such as in an early scene where we see him fondling himself on a public beach.

Ester is already used to such behavior, and the free-spirited Zuza doesn’t seem fazed by it, playing along with David while keeping him in check. There’s a shared intimacy between the three feels totally natural, as if they’d been traveling together for years. But there is also some friction, especially when it starts to dawn on Ester that she can’t live like this forever.

Although the film never explicitly states what will happen once the summer ends, there are times when Caravan recalls Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun, following a parent and child on what may be their last hurrah, highlighting moments both good and bad — moments that will soon become shared memories.

Shooting primarily in close-ups or medium close-ups, Kirchnerova’s direction can feel a tad claustrophobic, although it’s clear she wants her movie to be as subjective as possible. The protective bubble that Ester and David, and, for a time, Zuza, form is rarely broken by outsiders, whether it’s beer-guzzling teens hanging on the beach or a young farmer (Mario Russo) who hires Ester and quickly tries to seduce her.

What’s surprising, and altogether honest on the filmmaker’s part, is how much Ester wants to be seduced. Geislerova fearlessly portrays her as a woman who has given up quite a lot for her child, but still seeks freedom and affection, as well as lust. In some ways, Ester and David are quite similar, and Kirchnerova hints at this when we see them mimicking each other’s movements. They’re both filled with sexual longing and the desire to break away, yet welded together like so many mothers and sons are.

Alongside the seasoned Czech star, Brutovska provides a memorable counterweight as the more laid-back Zuza, while newcomer Vodstrcil gives a convincing performance that never feels overdone, even when David is having one of his tantrums.

Despite the boy’s condition, Caravan ultimately shows how much he behaves like any teenager, forcing Ester to deal with the kind of problems so many parents experience when their kids grow up. And that’s perhaps Kirchnerova’s greatest accomplishment: She’s transformed a unique and deeply personal story of adversity into a movie all of us can relate to.