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?
Recently watched the DVD of The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Read the book about 2 years ago, but had forgotten a lot of the plot. The film brought it all back and I thought it was a faithful rendition.
Rather a lot of sex scenes but somehow there was an element of the ridiculous which left us laughing out loud. I was unaware how old the film was - mid 80s - but Juliette Binoche looks about 17 (which she wasn't) and D D Lewis about 30 (which he was).
There were lots of scenes relating to the 1968 soviet invasion which ended the Prague Spring, some of which looked like genuine news footage. Brought back a lot of memories of that time.
A special source of joy was the music. For me so many recent films seem to be ruined by intrusive music, but in this one the music was sparse and all, or almost all pieces from Janacek’s piano pieces On an Overgrown Path and his two string quartets which were perfect choices, I thought.
Highly recommended.