Rent The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)

Casanova in Swinging Sixties Czechoslovakia until it all goes wrong - The Unbearable Lightness of Being review by Philip in Paradiso

The film is an American romantic drama, as adapted from the novel of the same name by Milan Kundera, the famous Czech novelist. It tells the story of Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis), a brilliant brain surgeon, and the women he meets and spends time with. In essence, Tomas is a charming, intelligent and handsome doctor, full of self-confidence, who is extremely successful with women and multiplies sexual adventures, always on the look-out for new targets. He has a steady partner, in what could be called an open relationship, who is an unconventional artist, Sabina (Lena Olin). The backdrop to the story is the political situation in Czechoslovakia at the time: the liberalization of the Communist regime leads to the Prague Spring, in 1968, when the military forces of the Warsaw Pact, led by the Soviets, invade the country in order to crack down on the Czechoslovak experience and re-instate a more repressive and conservative form of Socialism (i.e. of Communist regime).

The film is good and I enjoyed it, although it is a bit long, at 2 hours 45 mins or thereabouts. Milan Kundera himself was unhappy about it, claiming it did not reflect the story as he intended it and as he wrote it. (I cannot judge as I have not read the novel.) Personally, I somehow expected the political canvas to be more prominent; although it matters, of course, Tomas's dalliances tend to take centre-stage. To put it simply, he is some kind of Czech Casanova, to the point where some aspects of the story seem barely plausible. It is enough for Tomas to enter a room, leer at an attractive woman, tell her to "take off your clothes" (literally, just like that), and torrid sex follows instantly.

The other thing I found problematical is the use of the English language. The various characters speak with a range of accents (for instance, Juliette Binoche, unsurprisingly, sounds Franco-Slavic), and they all make an effort to sound vaguely Central European/ Czech, including D Day-Lewis, who tries to sound like a foreigner speaking English. I found this artificial. The sound of the Czech or Slovak language is absent from the film. It made it more difficult for me to relate to the story because, as it happens, I have been to Prague, and I visited Czechoslovakia under Communism on several occasions, hence know the country quite well. Other people may not find this problematical, however, and it was probably inevitable with an international production.

The underlying themes in the movie are interesting all the same: what it means to be living and working in a totalitarian state; whether sex and love differ and to what extent faithfulness is an issue in a relationship, and so on. But even those themes are not explored or analyzed in a particularly deep manner. The title of the movie (and the novel) gives it away up to a point; Tomas is the central character, and his motto could be: How to have fun in circumstances that are not always ideal, and does it matter what I do?

I would still recommend the film and it is worth watching, but I expected, somehow, something more than that.

Love Lies & the Prague Spring - The Unbearable Lightness of Being review by griggs

Czechoslovakia, 1968 isn’t just “the setting” here. It’s a pressure cooker, turning private choices into high-stakes choices. Don’t come looking for a neat plot engine — this film lives in a mood: desire, doubt, and that tug-of-war between love and freedom.

Day-Lewis makes Tomas dangerously charming: whip-smart, funny, and emotionally slippery, as if he’s always negotiating with his own conscience. Binoche is the counterweight — quiet, bruised, all inward weather — and you feel what Tereza can’t quite say. Then Lena Olin arrives as Sabina and changes the temperature: sensual, restless, impossible to pin down.

What got me is how it makes intimacy feel political without lecturing. The images look like memory — gorgeous, but slightly haunted. Only snag: the accents wobble, and even Day-Lewis occasionally goes full Count-from-Sesame Street.

Hidden meanings - The Unbearable Lightness of Being review by HM

Two 1960's Prague City people, he a surgeon and she an artist, have a libertarian attitude to life and enjoy an unconditional sexual relationship. Isn't life fun, free and above day to day problems? They both meet people who take a more traditional 'let's get married' attitude to life. Can the sexual relationship survive in the margins of the conventional? The Prague Spring erupts on the streets and the Russians crush it. The two libertarians become 'none people'; can they somehow recreate their freedom to feel good about life regardless of adversity and circumstances now beyond their control; see how it develops. A movie to make you think or just accept it as a romantic adventure, up to you.

Personally I was gripped by the subject matter and felt I understood the underlying philosophical issue. Or maybe I was trying to be too clever for my own good?