Student name: El Alaoui Sanaa

Tutor: Miklos Lojko

Course code: BBI-ANGF17-204E

Submission date: 12/19/2018

The Cinema of the Absurd in:

Clive Donner’s the Caretaker

One of the commonly higher reasons for existence is the quest to search for

purpose. Traditionally, humans are in constant attempt to find meaning in life; thus,

such strenuous mental journey culminates in two radically separate yet coalesced

interpretations. Each of two conclusions is ironically absurd: one lies in finding

meaning in life and the other one in finding ‘nothingness’. However, it is noteworthy

that alongside the absurdist idea, strains of existentialism are deeply rooted in

mankind’s nature. Without consciously thinking of existentialism, humans cannot

embark on this absurdist journey. In this view, the nefariousness of World War II and

the Cold War was one of the tremendous troubles to the human condition; the

atrocities of the war urged humans to escalate their search on a higher level. On the

grounds, there exist a myriad of works that treated the question of human condition,

provided that art is an adequate alternate for man to raise questions and ‘sometimes’

find solutions. It is art that mirrors the anguish state of mankind; ergo, this mirror

reflects on existentialism as a way to live ‘unaccordingly’. The ultimate freedom lies

in accepting one’s absurdist existence and continuing to live regardless its

realization1. Relatively speaking, the idea of absurdist existence is a prevalent theme

in a variety of existentialist cinematic works, particularly in that of Clive Donner’s

1
According to Albert Camus, by acknowledging no religious or moral limitations, and by revolting
against absurd while simultaneously accepting it, one could find his ultimate freedom.
film adaptation ‘the Caretaker’ (1964). In his film, Donner attempted to exhibit this

anguish human condition based on the elusiveness of language and sensory

experience. Therefore, this essay examines the extent of describing this human

condition based on Donner’s use of an experimental and outlandish filmic language.

When Albert Camus first coined the term ‘Absurdist’, he established it on the

basis of confrontation or a divorce between two ideals. The duality of these ideals

derives from a man’s inner conflict to find meaning and clarity on the one hand – and

the silent, phlegmatic and inactive universe on the other hand. Camus ensures that this

encounter with absurdism ought to be accompanied by conscious, provided that

activating a conscious mind while embarking on this journey will inevitably deliver

humans to a realization of certain recognition; thence, it is this recognition that will

assist a person to embrace his absurdist condition2. For instance, in the film version,

Aston is ambiguously presented as a person who embraced his absurdist existence. He

speaks less and thinks more. Therefore, it is concluded that Aston chose recognition

as his ultimate option. However, this recognition raises a variety of questions that lies

in whether he recognized his existence as purposeful or purposeless3. This is where

Donner uses Aston’s silence to help the audience explore the character more. The film

is mainly based on symbols and characters’ actions, thus Aston’s performance is a

great example to understand the anguish human condition that is controlled by

menace. Hence, the power of filmic language does not necessary lie in using linguistic

elements to understand its characters, but rather noise to creating sense. It is the

disturbing noise of silence that Aston promotes which integrates more the audience

into this filmic experience. In his essay of ‘What is literature?’ Sartre connects the

2
In his book Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essay (1991), Albert Camus defined human condition as
absurd. He claims that such confrontation and quest may lead humans to three choices: suicide, a leap
of faith or recognition.
3
It is hard to decide whether Aston realize his purposeness in life. Even though he recognized things,
the audience still feels a certain governance of threat of unknown, the power of menace.
instruments of a poet with his words, the painter with his colors, the musician with his

tones and the prose writer with his words but as signs4. This is clearly evident in

Harold Pinter’s original play the Caretaker. Yet, similar to this view, the filmmaker’s

instruments are varied and can be listed in lighting, camera movement, effects,

performance, symbolic objects, and images that constitute the filmic language.

Generally speaking, humans usually take for granted language as a

communication medium dependent on linguistic items to derive conceptual meanings.

However, this is not the case for films provided that the aesthetic force of films lies in

generating conceptual meaning and sensory experience based on nonlinguistic items5.

It is a commonplace that cinema gained its iconic name as ‘the father of the seven

arts’; given the fact that it encompasses all forms that ranges between verbal and

visual structures. However, the force of cinema lies in visual interpretation more than

the verbal one. Humans, when they are faced to the silver screen, they submit to this

force unconsciously provided that it penetrates their brain and render them the ‘real’

subject matter. Interestingly, it is the audience that drives that force; given that in

cinema there is a structural hierarchy that governs the dominator and the one who is

being dominated. In like manner of literature, the audience is confronted to an

analogous experience with reading where ‘words are compared with shots, sentences

with sequences, paragraphs with scenes, cuts and fades with punctuations’6.

Therefore, what made Donner’s adaptation worthy is providing a filmic experience

that is compatible to the theatrical one where the audience perceives the core meaning

behind the story even with different mediums.

4
This is indebted to an indirect source in Van Meter Ames Article ‘the Journal of Aesthetics and Art
Criticism’ (1951), where he claims that it is up to the audience to see what they see in a work of art.
That is, the audience can also impose its own interpretation on a work of art, not merely the work of art
that limits its interpretation upon the audience.
5
This is indebted to an indirect source in Edward W. Hudlin article Filmic language (1979) where he
says that the filmic language is considered logomorphic and editing is formed like syntax.
6
Edward W. Hudlin. Filmic language. The Journal of Aesthetic Education (1979), pp. 48.
 Donner excelled his filmic allegory with the use of the setting as a chief

outlandish instrument to project the character’s inner spirit. Aston’s mental status quo

is dominated by an obscure force; even though he realizes this absurdity he still

embraces it. That is to say, his room is ambiguously unsettled with objects scattered in

a disorderly manner. Therefore, it can be inferred that the room is an outside

projection of Aston’s mental anguish state. Aesthetically speaking, the audience feel a

state of claustrophobia due to the disturbing camera movement inside the room. When

Davies visits the room for the first time, the camera moves between and behind the

objects while both characters speak; this creates a feeling of restriction and discomfort

because the audience cannot fully concentrate on the dialogue while they struggle to

find their way throughout the narrow room that is condensed with irrational

distribution of objects. In addition to this, Donner managed to integrate the audience

into this claustrophobic experience in order to unify the struggle between the

characters and the viewers. Based on the existentialist experience, the audience, while

watching the film embarks into the same absurdist quest to arrive at those dual

conclusions. This is where the film plays its thematic and aesthetic role to reinforce

the application of the audience’s conscious to fully realize this ultimate recognition.

Therefore, filmic language is the engine that drives the audiences’ awareness to the

character’s inner struggle. According to Eisenstein, the realization of ‘animated

images’ are heavily dependent on preexistent natural and psychological codes7. In this

view, certain codes lie in the audience’s possession of a primitive knowledge of their

existence and its purpose. That is why; shots are heavily depended on the viewers as

much as they are depended on the content. Without the audience’s own projection of

those primitive natural codes, the film will be plotless, meaningless and purposeless.
7
In Hudlin’s journal Filmic language, he says the Eisenstein’s view is based on the fact that cinema on
the cultural association with which these images have for the viewers. Such preexistent primitives
codes are existent deeply in psychological laws and associations that the audience have
 Not only does the setting establish an abstract definition of the mental state of

characters but objects within this setting play a psychological role as well. For

instance, the Buddha statue denotes a variety of implication and references to

absurdist nature as well. Initially, Aston picked up the statue of Buddha due to his

affection to it. In like manner, Aston ‘picked up’ Davies from the street and brought

him into his house. This connotes a variety of interpretations where one can define

Davies as a Buddha-figure (or God-like). Given the fact that he will be the caretaker

of the house, it can be inferred that the irony of religion lies in comparing both God

and Davies as ultimate Caretakers. That is, Mick gave this responsibility to Davies

even though he knows he is incapable of taking care of the house. This provokes the

audience to project on the room as the whole universe where all beings are useless

objects stored in a narrow setting measured by the water dips that creates a temporal

tone waiting for ‘something’. If this ‘something’ is defined as the caretaker, one could

question whether the two brothers were waiting for Davies as they savior provided

that they suffer from social anxiety and they lack brotherhood. Or another question

would be whether they are waiting for a God-like figure that will find the solution to

their void. This connotation is similar to that of Samuel Becket’s play ‘Waiting for

Godot’ where both characters are waiting for a God that never came8. Ironically,

Davies denounces the existence of this statue and feels disaffection with it. Thus, such

rejection reflects the inner conflict of Davies who is in constant search for his identity.

Additionally, by the end of the film, the Buddha statue will be broken into pieces

while Davies will be asked to leave the house. This parallel between both Davies and

Buddha infers that they share same absurdist destiny. However, some critics create a

8
Waiting for Godot is a play written by Samuel Beckett is a play by Samuel Beckett, in which two
characters, Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), wait for the arrival of someone named Godot who
never arrives, and while waiting they engage in a variety of discussions and encounter three other
characters
liaison between the Buddha statue and Aston given the fact that both share the same

generous and kindness virtues. Yet, it is still unclear whether these virtues stand for

what they represent or not. This raises the question whether Aston saved Davies for

the sake of goodness or for Aston’s own sake.

On the grounds, it can be concluded that one of the major themes of the film is

the characters’ struggle to possess power over each other. Davies constant despise

over the Buddha and the ‘Blacks’ denotes his inner weakness to gain control over

Aston and Mick. Additionally, his rejection of others is deriving from his rejection of

his own identity. This mirrors a general scope on the post-war life where suspicion

and prejudice was prevalent due to the flow of immigrants at the times in England9.

Similarly, Davies’ struggle to sleep can also be a reference to UK’s status quo during

the post-war where anxiety rose and unsettlement was established. In relation to

Camus’s conclusion, the absurdist quest which humans take leads them to three

definite choices: suicide, leap of faith or recognition. Ergo, it can be inferred that the

rejection of Buddha by Davies and the breaking of this statue by Aston suggests that

both characters denounced the ‘leap of faith’ option which denotes the belief of

something beyond ‘rational’10. As a result, they reject the existence of God that is

represented as the final Caretaker. By the same token, when Aston fails to control

Davies by the end of the film, he realizes that the alternate solution to his failure is to

ask Davies to leave. Therefore, Aston’s altruism is questionable because it is evident

that he was helping Davies to control him so he can meet his own needs. However,

the desire for power is not the main motive for Aston. Not only Aston and Davies fail

9
Davies displays a paradox obsession over the hierarchy of race. It is ironic because from the one hand,
Davies is considered as an intruder (outsider) just like the Greeks and Black. And from the other hand,
he never had at the beginning an identity. Therefore, how can someone who judges other’s race be
lacking his own identity.
10
In his book Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essay (1991), Albert Camus claims that such confrontation
and quest may lead humans to three choices: suicide, a leap of faith or recognition.
to gain power, but Mick struggles to control both of them as well. Broadly speaking, it

is this feeling of emptiness lurking inside the characters that drives them to gain

control; provided that this control over each other is their ultimate way to finding

themselves. As a result, this power is merely abstract and never gained. For instance,

Davies starts by establishing an obscure balance of power over Aston; however, when

he loses this control, he becomes immediately the bait of the brother Mick.

Another object Donner employs to reinforce the tone of his film is the noisy

silence that is manifested in the noise generated by the bucket hanging from the

ceiling that catches drips of water. This effect creates a disturbing silence and

temporal tone that controls each character. Moreover, the drips represent the solemn

existence of tramps such as Davies who is trapped in a bucket. In other sense, the

room functions as a storage attic where useless objects are stored. Hence, Aston,

Davies and Mick are regarded as useless beings diving into the hardship of isolation

from the social world where the room is their ultimate womb. This explains the

reaction of Davies when he was asked to leave the room. It is within the room where

the three characters find their safety even if it is void, which explains Absurdism at

heart. This is where all three characters embarced the Abusrd even though

simultaneously rejecting it. Not only they isolate themselves from the outside world

that they find meaningless, but they also segregate themselves from each other; each

character with his own universe and ultimate goals. Thus, the struggle to

communicate is permanent and never realized; each spoken line vibrates with a

myriad of interpretations. Therefore, Donner succeeded in transferring this struggle of

communication by displaying the characters’ interpersonal distance in a tremendous

small setting. When the three characters are gathered in the room, they are physically

close to each other. The camera compresses their existence and creates a feeling of
togetherness; yet, these characters are deeply and radically different. However, what

connects these three characters is their fear of the menace. It is the power of menace

that leads their way together throughout the absurdist journey in order to decide

whether they will choose suicide, the leap of faith or recognition. Finally, remoteness

and inaccessibility of the three characters’ desires is what establishes the film’s

climax. Mick’s dream of an eloquent penthouse, Aston’s goal to build the shed and

Davies ‘questionable’ desire to recover his papers from Sidcop are never attained. The

strong motive behind creating something solid by which they can define themselves is

derived from the void where they are coming from11. The three men are living under

the shadow of unanswered questions; yet, once these answers are found the Absurd is

found as well.

To conclude, a considerable amount of literature has been published on the

movement of the ‘Theatre of the Absurd’12 as an artistic medium to exhibit human

condition. Yet it is noteworthy that, in like manner, filmic language succeeded to

construct a device that treats same theoretical movement where human condition is

presented throughout the silver screen. A variety of works has focused on

existentialist cinema and absurdist experience where visual meaning is developed to a

higher level. On the grounds, Donner has managed to revolutionize a new wave of

cinema where silence is the resulting soundtrack, where language is elusive, and

where characters and surroundings are deeply interconnected. In this manner, Donner

gave life to meaningless objects. The power of visual art lies is not providing clarity

but in echoing a sense of mental exercise that compels the audience to think of every

11
This is indebted to the indirect source of Gerald M. Berkowitz’s article Pinter’s revision of the
Caretaker, where he claims that three individuals are isolated at loose ends, having no sense of their
roots, social status or personal identity. It is this lack of sense what drives them to dreams of building
the Shed for Aston, the papers of Sidcup of Davies and the penthouse decoration of Mick.
12
The Theatre of the Absurd is a post–World War II designation for particular plays of absurdist
fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s, as well as one for the
style of theatre which has evolved from their work.
single detail; eventually, it is the accuracy of details that creates the cinematic

experience.