The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Elvira B

  
  The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a gorgeous adaptation of Milan Kundera's novel of the same name (one of my favorite books). It's the story of Tomas, a surgeon living in Prague in the 1960s. He feels life is light and that his actions have weightless consequences. He… More
  The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a gorgeous adaptation of Milan Kundera's novel of the same name (one of my favorite books). It's the story of Tomas, a surgeon living in Prague in the 1960s. He feels life is light and that his actions have weightless consequences. He goes through life fleeing anything that might put weight on him: he's a womanizer who runs away from the slightest form of committment, and an intelligent man who nevertheless avoids assuming a politicial position outspokenly in a time in which that was an almost obvious thing to do for any thinking citizen. Tereza, played by Juliette Binoche, is a countrygirl who falls in love with Tomas. She thrusts her weight on his life when he can't help falling in love with her and making her a part of his life. The film focuses, mainly on the conflict between Tomas's idea of a weightless life and Tereza's impossibility of understanding that philosophy. Tereza thinks everything is of consequence and she struggles to liberate herself from wieght, while Tomas can't help but feeling life is light and struggles to accept Tereza without sacrificing his "infidelities". It's a very interesting drama, and the way it unfolds is captivating. Without being overly sentimental, TULB manages to show the dynamics of a relationship between two people in love who simply can't come to an agreement about how to interpret the aggressive world around them, but who nevertheless try hard to make it work. The tense, oppressive atmosphere of 1960s Czechoslovakia, the Russian occupation, the persecution of intellectuals, is present as the threatening backdrop for the love story. It's especially <i>heavy</i> on Tomas, who keeps rejecting the notion that anything may be worth troubling oneself for until the persecution reaches him too. Lena Olin plays Sabina, Tomas's best friend and lover who shares his idea of a world without weight. She never ever succumbs to anyone's weight, and finds an ending in accordance to her pursuit of lightness. Although these (Kundera's) ideas may seem complicated or way too abstract for a movie, they are well exposed and every scene conveys them really well. I do prefer the book to the film, but this adaptation has its own charm. The cinematography is breathtaking and the performances are great from all the cast. Daniel Day-Lewis was perfectly cast as Tomas, and I couldn't think of anyone with the right amount of both vulnerability and strength better than Juliette Binoche to play Tereza. The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a beautiful movie that can also provoke thought (wow) and be visually seductive and engaging. It's dramatic and funny and serious and naive all at once. It's romantic, and sometimes sad. And it's a faithful adaptation of the book. Couldn't ask for more.

• Lady D

  
  It was more like ?the unbearable anticipation that the end of the film will be soon?! This film seemed to go on forever, without any excitement, in fact, this has to be one of the dullest films ever made and that?s uncharacteristic of both Daniel Day Lewis and Juliette Binoche.

• Ross C

  
  Against the backdrop of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, a Prague doctor and womaniser finds himself in a relationship with the naive young Tereza, whilst still enjoying carnal delights with his artist lover. An intelligent romantic-drama with an insight into the politics of… More
  Against the backdrop of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, a Prague doctor and womaniser finds himself in a relationship with the naive young Tereza, whilst still enjoying carnal delights with his artist lover. An intelligent romantic-drama with an insight into the politics of bohemian Prague at that time. It would seem too long at 3 hours if it were not for the numerous gratuitous sex scenes that add some spice to the more serious aspects of the drama.

• Tim S

  
  An all around amazing film.

• jay n

  
  I know people who loved it but for me it was like watching paint dry.

• Dean M

  
  Average erotic-romantic-drama triangle story of a womanizing surgeon, an artist and bookwormer become photographer in Prague. I like Lena Olin's beautiful body in her sex and nudity scenes.

• Pierluigi P

  
  A desirable and tender drama with strong performances, good script, and solid direction.

• Bill C

  
  Set in a Tolstoy-esque world the rambling uneven narrative focus' on the the smallest details of the three main characters lives. Kaufman leaves each character as an enigma instead of developing them the audience is left to guess at there back story through the furtherance of the… More
  Set in a Tolstoy-esque world the rambling uneven narrative focus' on the the smallest details of the three main characters lives. Kaufman leaves each character as an enigma instead of developing them the audience is left to guess at there back story through the furtherance of the plot. I enjoyed the excess nudity it is a player in the film but never reaches the point of soft core pron (sic). The action of the story makes the 3+ hours float by, but it never reach's a level of being totally engrossing. The break between disc 1 and 2 is very natural and watching disc 1 makes disc 2 a cliff-hanger of sorts.

• Brian R

  
  Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a doctor and a lady-killer in 1960s Czechoslovakia, an apolitical man who is struck with love for the bookish country girl Tereza; his more sophisticated sometime lover Sabina eventually accepts their relationship and the two women form an electric… More
  Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a doctor and a lady-killer in 1960s Czechoslovakia, an apolitical man who is struck with love for the bookish country girl Tereza; his more sophisticated sometime lover Sabina eventually accepts their relationship and the two women form an electric friendship. Although it's three hours long this picture never seems to bore. Great performances from Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin. TULOB is an awesome experience and one of the best.

• Simeon D

  
  Very long, very moving, and very adult. A good performance from Juliette Binoche and detailed characters. 78/100

• Marcus W

  
  Pure "arthouse", meaning its around three hours, has no plot and is set during a tumultuous period in history. Day-Lewis plays a man that every attractive woman wants to sleep with and he only seems to come across attractive women. Actually, nearly every scene in this film… More
  Pure "arthouse", meaning its around three hours, has no plot and is set during a tumultuous period in history. Day-Lewis plays a man that every attractive woman wants to sleep with and he only seems to come across attractive women. Actually, nearly every scene in this film ends with sex or someone stripping. Binoche (who is actually pretty good in this) is his wife and doesn't kick his ass out for constantly cheating on her, instead she has a hissy-fit and offers to bathe them for him or something. Lena Olin sleeps with anyone but won't commit. Binoche finally leaves Day-Lewis so he goes and stands in a lake with swans. Then the Russians invade and it goes all black and white. Day-Lewis gets Binoche back by turning up and glaring at her. Then Binoche cheats on Day-Lewis so she goes and watches some swans. And then they both die.

• Sunil J

  
  Such a long movie that you have to sigh when you go from one disk to the second but it's good.

• MJS M

  
  A remarkably mature film from the underappreciated filmmaker Philip Kaufman. This film is epic in length and size, but intimate in scope. It chronicles the lives of three Czech professionals, a womanizing doctor, his simpleminded wife, and his free-spirited mistress. The film was… More
  A remarkably mature film from the underappreciated filmmaker Philip Kaufman. This film is epic in length and size, but intimate in scope. It chronicles the lives of three Czech professionals, a womanizing doctor, his simpleminded wife, and his free-spirited mistress. The film was notable for its then groundbreaking sexual content. It wouldn?t have been overly shocking in a film ten years older or independently made, not so much for the sex, but for the fact that this is a movie that?s quite specifically made for adult intellectual sensibilities. I have no idea how Kaufman managed to convince a major Hollywood studio to produce this film in the middle of the mainstream cultural wasteland that was the 1980s. The acting here from Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliet Binoche and especially Lena Olin is first class, as is Kaufman?s direction. My one complaint is the film?s use of Czech accents; while they sound authentic and are used consistently, I find the best way to deal with language when making an English language film about a foreign land is to simply use the actor?s natural rather than make the characters sound like foreigners in their own land. That?s a minor quibble though, this is my new favorite film of 1988.

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