Sun April 13, 2014
The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Philip Kaufman (U.S., 1988)
SEE EVENT DETAILS
at Pacific Film Archive (PFA) Theater
(see times)
BAM/PFA Collection Print
Adapted from Milan Kundera’s novel, this grand romance begins its vaporous plot during the Prague Spring of 1968, an optimistic moment when socialism had a gentler hand. Daniel Day-Lewis plays Tomas, a philandering surgeon who favors “lightness,” a disconnection from the weight of history. His sexual appetite is an aspect of this flight from commitment, and rarely does he repeat himself, frolicking instead from woman to woman with the seductive command “Take off your clothes.” This ends when he meets two women of weighty will: Sabina (Lena Olin), whose own appetite is ravenous; and Tereza (Juliette Binoche), an innocent from the country with a more provincial palate. Then the Soviet tanks arrive and lightness becomes a luxury. With the handsome trio of thespians at the center of the film, cinematography by the great Sven Nykvist, a script by Buñuel collaborator Jean-Claude Carrière, and cutting by master editor Walter Murch, The Unbearable Lightness of Being finds just the right balance between weighty aesthetics and the desires of the soul. Jan Nemec, who served as an advisor on the film, provided footage of the invasion; watch for his cameo appearance as a photographer during this sequence.
—Steve Seid
• Written by Kaufman, Jean-Claude Carri.re, based on the novel by Milan Kundera. Photographed by Sven Nykvist. With Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Derek de Lint. (171 mins, Color, 35mm, BAM/PFA Collection)
Preceded by Oratorio for Prague (Jan Nemec, Czechoslovakia/U.S., 1968). Originally intended as a celebration of the Prague Spring, Nemec’s film ultimately chronicled the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia. (29 mins, B&W, DigiBeta)
Total running time: 200 mins
show less
Adapted from Milan Kundera’s novel, this grand romance begins its vaporous plot during the Prague Spring of 1968, an optimistic moment when socialism had a gentler hand. Daniel Day-Lewis plays Tomas, a philandering surgeon who favors “lightness,” a disconnection from the weight of history. His sexual appetite is an aspect of this flight from commitment, and rarely does he repeat himself, frolicking instead from woman to woman with the seductive command “Take off your clothes.” This ends when he meets two women of weighty will: Sabina (Lena Olin), whose own appetite is ravenous; and Tereza (Juliette Binoche), an innocent from the country with a more provincial palate. Then the Soviet tanks arrive and lightness becomes a luxury. With the handsome trio of thespians at the center of the film, cinematography by the great Sven Nykvist, a script by Buñuel collaborator Jean-Claude Carrière, and cutting by master editor Walter Murch, The Unbearable Lightness of Being finds just the right balance between weighty aesthetics and the desires of the soul. Jan Nemec, who served as an advisor on the film, provided footage of the invasion; watch for his cameo appearance as a photographer during this sequence.
—Steve Seid
• Written by Kaufman, Jean-Claude Carri.re, based on the novel by Milan Kundera. Photographed by Sven Nykvist. With Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Derek de Lint. (171 mins, Color, 35mm, BAM/PFA Collection)
Preceded by Oratorio for Prague (Jan Nemec, Czechoslovakia/U.S., 1968). Originally intended as a celebration of the Prague Spring, Nemec’s film ultimately chronicled the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia. (29 mins, B&W, DigiBeta)
Total running time: 200 mins
BAM/PFA Collection Print
Adapted from Milan Kundera’s novel, this grand romance begins its vaporous plot during the Prague Spring of 1968, an optimistic moment when socialism had a gentler hand. Daniel Day-Lewis plays Tomas, a philandering surgeon who favors “lightness,” a disconnection from the weight of history. His sexual appetite is an aspect of this flight from commitment, and rarely does he repeat himself, frolicking instead from woman to woman with the seductive command “Take off your clothes.” This ends when he meets two women of weighty will: Sabina (Lena Olin), whose own appetite is ravenous; and Tereza (Juliette Binoche), an innocent from the country with a more provincial palate. Then the Soviet tanks arrive and lightness becomes a luxury. With the handsome trio of thespians at the center of the film, cinematography by the great Sven Nykvist, a script by Buñuel collaborator Jean-Claude Carrière, and cutting by master editor Walter Murch, The Unbearable Lightness of Being finds just the right balance between weighty aesthetics and the desires of the soul. Jan Nemec, who served as an advisor on the film, provided footage of the invasion; watch for his cameo appearance as a photographer during this sequence.
—Steve Seid
• Written by Kaufman, Jean-Claude Carri.re, based on the novel by Milan Kundera. Photographed by Sven Nykvist. With Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Derek de Lint. (171 mins, Color, 35mm, BAM/PFA Collection)
Preceded by Oratorio for Prague (Jan Nemec, Czechoslovakia/U.S., 1968). Originally intended as a celebration of the Prague Spring, Nemec’s film ultimately chronicled the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia. (29 mins, B&W, DigiBeta)
Total running time: 200 mins
read more
Adapted from Milan Kundera’s novel, this grand romance begins its vaporous plot during the Prague Spring of 1968, an optimistic moment when socialism had a gentler hand. Daniel Day-Lewis plays Tomas, a philandering surgeon who favors “lightness,” a disconnection from the weight of history. His sexual appetite is an aspect of this flight from commitment, and rarely does he repeat himself, frolicking instead from woman to woman with the seductive command “Take off your clothes.” This ends when he meets two women of weighty will: Sabina (Lena Olin), whose own appetite is ravenous; and Tereza (Juliette Binoche), an innocent from the country with a more provincial palate. Then the Soviet tanks arrive and lightness becomes a luxury. With the handsome trio of thespians at the center of the film, cinematography by the great Sven Nykvist, a script by Buñuel collaborator Jean-Claude Carrière, and cutting by master editor Walter Murch, The Unbearable Lightness of Being finds just the right balance between weighty aesthetics and the desires of the soul. Jan Nemec, who served as an advisor on the film, provided footage of the invasion; watch for his cameo appearance as a photographer during this sequence.
—Steve Seid
• Written by Kaufman, Jean-Claude Carri.re, based on the novel by Milan Kundera. Photographed by Sven Nykvist. With Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Derek de Lint. (171 mins, Color, 35mm, BAM/PFA Collection)
Preceded by Oratorio for Prague (Jan Nemec, Czechoslovakia/U.S., 1968). Originally intended as a celebration of the Prague Spring, Nemec’s film ultimately chronicled the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia. (29 mins, B&W, DigiBeta)
Total running time: 200 mins
show less
Date/Times:
Pacific Film Archive (PFA) Theater
2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94720
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