The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)

In 1968, a Czech doctor with an active sex life meets a woman who wants monogamy, and then the Soviet invasion further disrupts their lives.

Director:

Philip Kaufman

Writers:

Milan Kundera (novel), Jean-Claude Carrière (screenplay),

Stars:

Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 10 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Daniel Day-Lewis	...	Tomas
Juliette Binoche	...	Tereza
Lena Olin	...	Sabina
Derek de Lint	...	Franz
Erland Josephson	...	The Ambassador
Pavel Landovský	...	Pavel
Donald Moffat	...	Chief Surgeon
Daniel Olbrychski	...	Interior Ministry Official
Stellan Skarsgård	...	The Engineer
Tomasz Borkowy	...	Jiri (as Tomek Bork)
Bruce Myers	...	Czech Editor
Pavel Slabý	...	Pavel's Nephew
Pascale Kalensky	...	Nurse Katja
Jacques Ciron	...	Swiss Restaurant Manager
Anne Lonnberg	...	Swiss Photographer

Storyline

Tomas 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. The three are caught up in the events of the Prague Spring (1968), until the Soviet tanks crush the non-violent rebels; their illusions are shattered and their lives change forever.

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Plot Keywords:

soviet | doctor | waitress | friendship | invasion | 

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Taglines:

A Lovers Story.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 February 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

La insoportable levedad del ser

Filming Locations:

Bolinas, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$17,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$10,006,806 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Saul Zaentz Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

171 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The sequence depicting the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia incorporates real documentary footage of the era shot by students of Prague Film School with new scenes recreated for the movie. One of the film students, Jan Nemec, has a small role as a cameraman who is beaten and has his film confiscated by the Soviet police.

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Goofs

The positions of the men playing chess in the pool changes several times.

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Quotes

[first lines]
First Title Card: In Prague, in 1968, there lived a young doctor named Tomas...
Tomas: Take off your clothes.
[line recurs several times during film]

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Connections

Spoofed in The Unbearable Whiteness of Dean (1995)

User Reviews

Unbearable Beauty and perfection....

Beautiful, Erotic, existential, anticommunist, humane are the words I pick up to describe the 'Unbearable lightness of being'. From the title, we assume that it is a bit philosophical, but much of the hardcore intellectual stuff has been omitted out as is inevitable in any movie adaptation but the director is faithful to Kundera's work.

This tells the interlocking stories of four relationships, Tereza and Tomas, Tomas and Sabina, Sabina and Franz, Franz and Marie-Claude-with a primary focus on Tomas, a man torn between his love for Tereza, his wife, and his incorrigible "erotic adventures," particularly his long-time affair with the internationally noted painter, Sabina told in the atmosphere of the communist invasion of Prague in the sixties. The Unbearable Lightness of Being examines the imperfect possibilities of adult love and the ways in which free choice and necessity shape our lives. Here, lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and fortuitous events. It is a world in which, because everything occurs only once and then disappears into the past, existence seems to lose its substance and weight. Coping with both the consequences of their own actions and desires and the interfering demands of society and the state, the characters struggle to construct lives of individual value and lasting meaning.

Day Lewis has played Tomas so brilliantly that in each and every shot, we see his womanizing thirst in his eyes and gestures. Juliette Binoche is the female lead, and Nykvists camera catches some beautiful angles of her body that this is the most beautiful feminine face and figure I have ever seen on screen. I do not know how to describe the photography. There are some sequences in mirror rooms and with morning fog which are very delicate and Nykvyst well captures the mood. The black and white footage about the Russian invasion is also brilliant.

Well directed, well acted and well designed, this is one of the best movie adaptations ever. My salutes to Nykvist, Kaufmann and the cast and definitely to Kundera.