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 heavy 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.
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.
I ran for the train, ran to the cinema, anxiously checking the time queued to get a ticket and finally sat down in the front row of a dark film theatre as the film had already started. For the next three hours I had tears running down my cheeks and I don't remember the last time I'd been so moved by a film. First time I saw the Unbearable Lightness of Being I was probably about 18-19 and it was on TV. I remember liking the film, but thought it inferior to Kundera's fantastic novel. This viewing experience was very different. The big screen obviously made a huge difference, but I'd also grown so much as a person, I knew better. The film was beautiful. It was probably a combination of memories and the stunning cinematography, a great story which worked on so many different levels and the young, innocent face of Binoche that made it extraordinary. When the film had ended and walked out I felt heavy inside. The lightness of the world around me felt unbearable, but I was not strong enough to stop and speak to the child beggar under the railway bridge or to the homeless man selling the Big Issue. I observed the faces of other Londoners laughing, smiling and I felt empty, yet full of emotion.
this was certainly a very good film.It's a pity that many remember it only for the sex scenes.Full of meanings,good direction,a travel between beautiful Prague and Swiss.
Well apart from me trying to ignore Daniel Day Lewis's eyebrows for 2 hours - it was an amazing film. All the parts are brilliant. This film is mysterious, sexy and tragic. The invasion scenes and the dramatic contrast to black and white is brilliant. Every scene makes it feel as if youre watching a completely different film. And it's a very powerful technique.
If you thought that after seeing Daniel Day-Lewis as Bill The Butcher and Daniel Plainview that it was impossible for him to be associated with sex at all, watch this. It's kind of fun because he's a total womanizer and even though his hair is terrible, he is sexy. Plus, look for a 20-year-old Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin, who is eternally sexy. My favorite part is the middle where the whole thing about 1968 actually comes up! I'm sure the book emphasizes that a lot more!
This is the most sexiest movie i've ever watched in my entire life till now, I believe no other movie can top this movie on the total package of emotion and sexyness. Great and beautifully performed oscar-worthy acting from all cast, inparticular Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin. Fantastic directing and cinematography by Phillip Kaufman supporting the beauty of this movie which has been very passionate, provocative, mind twisted and emotional from the first second. The plot will pull you up and down in each of every scene attributes by love, betrayal, survival and politics. All these pieces blend beautifully into one beautifully crafted piece of art. Incase you haven't see it, I highly recommend this movie to you
Excellent. This actually took me a while to get into (1hr. 20 min.) but it was worth waiting for. After the exhausting dialogue-filled romance stuff during the first half that I usually hate, the story takes its root and becomes interesting with some political background and a sizzling menage a trois. Yes, this film has lots of t+a, though it balances its voluptuousness with rather strong Existentialism. Its length is enough to repel most (A whopping 171 minutes) and the feigned accents might grind the gears, but the love triangle - featuring a cute, innocent, rosy-cheeked Binoche with tender clasps of the hand - is more than enough to compensate for an above-average love story. The ending was my favorite part; It ranks among my favorite endings ever.
The massive sex scenes are overwhelming, but the plot is more praiseworthy - it deals with choices between love and lust, morality and survival, and many more little things. Daniel Day-Lewis is once again brilliant, Juliette Binoche's role is very lovely either. The music score is woderful and the scenery is picturesque. Fascinating and beautiful!
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.
what do you get when you put existentialism in a decent, eroticised atmosphere? right, this movie. everytime i reach the end of it, i cry like a child, whose lolly's been stolen.
The eroticism of the film--if that is really what was intended--is little more than amusing. But you know that when you feel yourself actually missing a character whom you haven't seen on the screen for a while, you are watching a well-made film. And once again Kaufman has made a long film (171 minutes) that seems much shorter.
This film seems like a good one for quite a while. All the elements are there. Most of all, the sense that the wonderful character details presented by the filmmakers, are slowly but surely converging toward a specific destination. By the two and a half hour mark however, hopes of reaching this promisedland dwindle. Unfortunate as it is, by the film's end, it becomes abundantly clear that the details of these people's lives are of themselves the work's driving force. While any attempt to bring them into a larger context, is just a disguise, an excuse to relish within them for as long as possible. The strokes of a brush are only as useful as the painting's overall effect. This painting appears as though someone just fell in love with stroking it.
An emotional rollercoaster from start to finish, the film's unpredictable ups and downs mirror the ups and downs of Tomas and Tereza's unstable relationship. It explores love, sexuality and sacrifice in a very original way through its three main characters and their complex relationships with each other. What is truly beautiful is the fact that Tereza never loses her childlike innocence, and instead humbles those around her. The ending is arguably bittersweet yet completely fulfilling. Brilliantly edited by Walter Murch, the viewer is kept riveted to the screen despite the movie's length.
Just marvelous. For some people it may be slow, but this film has everything you can imagine; its political debate is tremendously interesting and remarkable, but in the next scene your are laughing because some stupid line or acting. This is itself amazing, but when you blend this with a superb love story between four tremendously dissimilar persons (well the love with the animals is incorporated too), including therefore all the paradoxes that the love is able to give you, the result is this exceptional piece that you should see at least once.
I can't picture the beauty and splendor of the Milan Kundera's book, I can't wait to read it.
A tender, erotic and sensual masterwork. The performances are top-notch and Kaufman makes brilliant use of silences and subtle sound design. Outstanding contribution from Murch and Nykvist. European in its sensibility, this flawless, emotionally exquisite story, remains one of cinema's best kept secrets.
i haven't read the book, but i thought this was a good film. it's essentially a love story, or rather a journey, with social political themes that make it really thoughtful and interesting. it was very long but didn't felt boring at all, wonderful job.
Eu nunca li o livro, mas acredito piamente que algumas obras como essa, em que o fator psicológico conta bem mais do que cenas de ação propriamente dita, não podem ser passadas para o cinema sem a direção de um grande diretor. Sob uma direção mais ordinário, o filme perde muito das entrelinhas literárias e se torna entediante, sem criar qualquer vínculo com quem lhe assiste. Ouço pessoas dizendo que terminaram de ler o livro colocando em xeque o amor como conhecemos; eu, qdo terminei de assistir ao filme, agradeci a Zeus pela graça alcançada e pelo fim do martírio.
mais uma adaptação de livro que não deu certo. como em todos os casos, muita coisa ficou faltando: alguns personagens foram totalmente distorcidos e histórias importantes foram suprimidas. os "pesos" foram invertidos: a thereza e o thomas de kaufman são muito mais leves que no livro, enquanto que sabina, a moça livre de kundera, se tornou alguém que se culpa por não ser capaz de amar. franz virou só um apêndice na história e outras figuras importantes para a construção psicológica dos personagens foram simplesmente ignorados, como a mãe de thereza (apenas citada) e o filho de thomas (inexistente no filme). o filme todo é um festival de clichês e caricaturas, uma sucessão inacreditável de erros. melhor se fosse classificado de "livre adaptação" e assim ganhasse também outro nome. se bem que, como alguém já disse, por melhor que o filme fosse, jamais conseguiria transmitir a perfeição dos pensamentos de kundera... sequer citam a frase-base do livro ("es muss sein"). ¬¬
I am not sure why this is considered a classic but I think I figured it out when I watched the documentary about it on the DVD: America has never had tanks in its streets. The producers discussed how emotional this film was for countries in the Communist bloc and how it didn't do very good business in America.
That said, I found this movie boring and uninteresting. Day-Lewis is good, but it's his character that is slightly interesting, nothing special about his performance. Binoche and Olin are very good, though. They were two of the most interesting female characters I have seen in recent memory.
One other thing: This film is just too long. There is no reason to make this three hours long. It just drags on and on. Maybe the book is better - I don't know - but after watching this I have little desire to read it.
MCT:October 7, 2008
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