United Kingdom
2006
98 minutes
Director: Jan Junn

Set under the gray skies of an English coastal town, Gypo documents the breakdown of a 25-year marriage affected by the wear of time, financial strain and emotional distance. Helen (Pauline McLynn) spends long, tiring days taking care of her grandchild and working the night shift at the local grocery store, while Paul (Paul McGann) is bitter and tired of being in poverty. Their days are monotonous and their future is bleak until Tasha (Chloe Sirene), a Czech refugee, enters their lives through a friendship with their eighteen-year-old daughter. She shakes this working-class family to the core, drawing intense emotions from every member. An unlikely bond between Helen and Tasha forms, and for each, their friendship and subsequent romance is as compelling a force as either has ever known. The riveting story is told in three intersecting chapters that represent the perspectives of these characters: nurturing Helen, independent Tasha and the scheming, bigoted Paul. The inclusions and omissions from each version of the story reflect the personalities as they reveal themselves. Winner of the prestigious British Independent Film Award, Gypo is a gripping, disquieting story about the refugee experience and, ultimately, about the notion of “belonging” to a nation, a community or a person. – Emily Teel