A number of uncanny things happen at the start of “On Becoming A Guinea Fowl.” Shula (Susan Chardy), driving home from a fancy dress party outside of Lusaka, spots a pair of cowboy boots that belong to a man laid out on the side of the road. Upon further inspection, the man is a corpse. And the corpse is her Uncle Fred (Roy Chisha). The fact that her uncle is dead sets the machinery of Zambian funeral traditions into motion, whether or not Shula is ready to mourn.
But the funeral traditions and the limits of familial love and support that director Rungano Nyoni explores throughout the film set up some interesting challenges for the production team. Traditionally, families do not shower or change their clothes for three to four days until the day of the burial itself comes around. That meant costume director Estelle Don Banda would, for the bulk of the film, have only one look for most of the characters. That look had to express not just their personality, but where they stood in the hierarchy of the family, as well as how domineering or vulnerable we interpret them to be.
For instance, Shula’s funny, vulnerable, slightly haunted cousin Nsansa (Elizabeth Chisela), who reveals she was sexually abused by Uncle Fred, doesn’t treat his death with a whole lot of decorum — understandably. Don Banda imbues her with a sense of rebellion by putting her in a colorful party top. “It was a celebration for her. That’s what I wanted to show,” Don Banda told IndieWire.
Nsansa’s club-ready spaghetti straps mark her as potentially unreliable and immature in comparison to the old-money conservatism of Shula’s mother and aunties. But with the older women, Fred’s siblings who have closed ranks to defend him and the family image in death, Don Banda finds canny ways to instill a sense of hypocrisy and haughtiness in their character by making them appear the most put-together and comfortable.
Almost in the “A Good Man Is Hard To Find” way, the aunties are all a little too ready to leap into action.
“We didn’t want them to bring [Shula’s] mom and the aunties out of their comfort zone. We didn’t want them to look very foreign in their style,” Don Banda said. “That way, they were going to feel comfortable enough to remain themselves and give their most authentic presentation.”
Shula’s feelings are decidedly mixed, and Don Banda expresses that by making her outfit for the funeral almost too comfortable.
“She cares about [her mom] and her mom has lost a brother, right? But to her, the whole idea of the funeral was, like, ‘Can you wake me up when it’s done?’ you know? She didn’t want to see the complicated process of doing this, especially [when she sees] how Uncle Fred’s wife is being treated,” Don Banda said. “So I put her in the most lazy outfit. I put her in a pajama top.”
Shula’s attempt to vanish into the background is all the more marked because we first see her in very fancy dress indeed — a handmade outfit that’s an homage to Missy Elliot’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” music video. For this, Don Banda worked with the same material used in umbrellas, a feat in itself to source, in order to get the same texture and sheen that the dress in the music video has.
“I had an idea that [the dress] needed to be big, but I didn’t know how I was going to manage to make it stay big throughout the entire time she was filming in it,” Don Banda said. “One day I just thought, ‘You know what, it should be like a puffer coat.’ So I had the tailor make the puffer piece for the inside layer and he gathered pieces for the top part.”
The result is a dress that almost swallows Shula up. It creates the opportunity for both resonant visual metaphors about how the character carries trauma around with her. But it also offers a bit of black comedy, too; Shula’s handmade umbrella puffer dress can’t help but crinkle and huff as she tries to get comfortable in her car waiting for the police to show up.
Throughout the film, Don Banda and her costume team help us track what’s important to each character about themselves, and what jagged thing might be stuck in their ribs, just from what they’re wearing.
“ I was given the liberty to bring my own ideas to the table to see how best I could bring all the characters to life, especially Shula, and obviously incorporating our Zambian culture,” Don Banda said. “ It was a great experience. Very educational. The thing I liked most about it too was that Rungano wanted us to be relatable, and she allowed us to do it how we thought was best.”
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