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26 out of 30 people found the following review useful: Simple and Touching Story, 7 July 2005 Author: Galina from Virginia, USA
Milos Forman's "Loves of a Blonde" which he made in Czechoslovakia in 1965 way before "Cuckoo Nest" and "Amadeus" tells a very simple bitter-sweet tale about a teenaged girl who works in a shoe factory in a small town. With sixteen girls to one man - her chances to find a man of her dreams were not very high. One evening, she meets an attractive and young piano player who tells her about Prague and compares her to a guitar that could've been painted by Picasso. After they spend the night together, he leaves and she travels to Prague to find him. The film has been one of my favorites for many years and my opinion did not change after I saw it again a week ago - funny, sad, tender, and realistic film about searching for love, broken promises, shattered hearts, and universality of hope.
22 out of 26 people found the following review useful: In a class by itself, 19 January 2005 Author: jtur88 from Michigan
I don't think I've ever seen a movie that so faithfully captured the sense of place. I spent many months in the mid-60's in Czechoslovakia and Eastern Europe, and when I recently saw this film, it brought tears of nostalgia to my eyes. The scene in the parents' house, when the family was faced with the arrival of the unexpected stranger, is documentary in its portrayal of how a household would look in those times, complete to the smallest details of housekeeping and behavior. It is light-hearted without being slapstick, and it is poignant without being corny. Every character is right on the mark. On my very very short list of the greatest movies ever. In short, it is perfect. See this film, and take the whole family.
17 out of 20 people found the following review useful: Gentle, Winning Czech New Wave Romance, 17 May 2005 Author: FANatic-10 from Las Vegas, NV
"Loves of A Blonde" is a catchy, racy title for what is actually a gentle,low-key and affectionate look at a love affair in communist Czechoslovakia in the mid-60's. The film concerns a young (yes, blonde)girl who seems to be the prettiest one working in what looks like an extremely bleak factory setting in northern Czechoslovakia. The female workers in this shoe factory seem to far outnumber the males of the town. A band travels through town to play at a weekend dance, and the titled blonde (maybe its just me, but I think she resembles Reese Witherspoon a lot at various times)takes up with the piano player. Complications ensue.There are a number of sweetly comic moments in the film, and it has a great deal of affection for its various characters. Its not all laughs, though, as there is a melancholy undertow to all that goes on. The portrait of Czech society seems decidedly bleak...ugly towns, dreary jobs, precious little fun. The ending is rather ambiguous, but I felt it to be definitely more downbeat than upbeat. You smile, but I felt sad afterward - a feeling rather common after a youthful love affair, I suppose.
16 out of 19 people found the following review useful: Loves Of A Blond: Lovely and funny in a melancholy way...., 3 February 2002 Author: Manicheus
This is precisely the atmosphere of a provincial Eastern European town on a Saturday night with an amateur jazz band playing, a trio of goofy military reservists having a night out and hoping to score with a local factory girl or two. Real life takes precedent over ideology: this indeed is 1965, it could have been Poland, Hungary even Yugoslavia (here it's the Checho-Slovakia: great beer, ice hockey and hearty dosage of sexuality) The brief plot summary: a filandering young jazz player struggles to and finally seduces a simple factory girl for a one night stand; some time later, she comes to the capital of Prague in search of her lover but finds his bewildered parents. His mom rather rude, his dad confused and somewhat bashful...still they let her crash in (a small town girl in a big town like that!) until the beloved brat returns home from another of his nightly gigs...A funny film in that central European melancholy way, but warm and gut pinching for all those's who grew up in these times and longitudes. Bravo, Milos! Also one of Foreman's early, Bohemian films (I"ve seen three, perhaps there are more) : LOVES OF A BLONDE = Czech to boot &probably his finest --- THE FIREMEN'S BALL is also available on VHS and worth seeing as a complement of sorts: it has a darker, more tragic undertow. Milos Foreman is one of those film-makers who apparently do best while young and the rest of their careers often show for a fairly steady downhill ride. He's got these wonderful "home made" films, then comes to Hollywood: makes a stunning debut with One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest, there's some flashes of brilliance later on but all in all it all eventually goes to the dogs. This is my theory: I can think of quite a good number of film directors who fit the patter and corroborate with reality: it's true! Ah, well, but this is another story....Bye for now and happy viewing!
12 out of 17 people found the following review useful: Hard to fault, 2 January 2003 Author: dlpullar from Melbourne, Australia
I hadn't seen any of Milos Forman's work before I saw this, and it really surprised me (pleasantly). It was a really funny film, with clever characters, very realistic interactions and some surprisingly cheeseless slapstick moments. Also has a movingly downbeat finale.I doubt many people will make the effort to watch a little known black and white Czech film from the 60s, but those that do will be rewarded.
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful: The poignant, sweet story of Andula; one of Milos Foreman's fine, warm and subversive movies, 11 July 2008 Author: Terrell-4 from San Antonio, Texas
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Milos Forman's Loves of a Blonde is a wonderful movie...sweet and awful. Sweet, because Forman gives us no one we can dislike as he tells us the story of Andula (Hana Brejchova), a young factory worker in the depressing town of Zruc, making endless pairs of shoes alongside dozens of other young women. Not Milda (Vladimir Puchott), the young piano player who comes to town with a band, seduces Andula, and then leaves for Prague. Not the factory bosses, or the other young women who are bored and eager for husbands (they outnumber the men 16 to one). Not even the regiment of aging, smoking, unattractive soldiers who were based in Zruc to lower the odds a bit. Not Milda's parents, who one day find Andula at their apartment door, suitcase in hand, because she gave her heart to Milda and took him seriously when he told her to come visit him in Prague sometime. And awful, in a desperate sort of way, because Forman let's us see the lives all these people live in a Communist society that is petty, officious and incompetent. We can smile at a lecture an older woman gives the young factory girls about maintaining their honor and dignity with boys; we can even smile when two young leaders stand up and call for a vote to dedicate all of them to this idea; and we can smile when every girl in the room raises her hand to vote in favor, none against and none abstaining. Then we realize it might not be a good idea to snicker at a vote in favor of honor when a boss thinks it would be a good idea. There are two long set pieces in the movie that are terrific. The first is a dance in town, held by officials so that the soldiers can meet the girls. We move around with the camera, listening in to the appalled girls as they really see these desperate, coarse guys, and listening to the guys as they eye the girls, drink for courage and, in one case, surreptitiously remove a wedding ring and then dropping it on the floor for all to see. There's that safe, chirpy dance music...the angling to get a girl to take a walk in the woods...the possibility that the bored girl will agree. The second set piece is in Milda's apartment in Prague. Andula has arrived unannounced. Milda is playing with the band at a nightspot and there are only Milda's parents to welcome her. And welcome they don't. They've heard nothing about her. It's clear Milda is in for a surprise when he gets home that night. Milda's mother is not someone you'd want for a mother-in-law. Milda's father is more realistic but not exactly comforting. Their apartment is a living space of ancient appliances, chipped paint and doilies. The nagging opinions of the mother and the exasperated gruffness from the father make us smile. Of course, they have the opposite effect on Andula, who now is close to tears. Forman seems to be quietly pointing out to us what living in Communist Czechoslovakia has come to mean. Poor Andula. Will she have a happy future with Milda? Or will she return to Zruc...wiser, perhaps, but with nothing better ahead for her. Watch the movie and hope for the best. Andula a nice person. Loves of a Blonde is so poignant and sweet it hurts a little. Forman used mainly non-actors for most the roles and he had a genius for either eliminating their self-consciousness or for making it work in the context of the story. The movie at the basic level of story-telling is effective because the people, from Andula to the bit parts of people at the dance, look and act like people who aren't acting. We wind up liking most of them and feeling indulgent toward the rest. The Communist regime eventually caught on to the picture of life in Czechoslovakia which Forman presented with such apparent good humor in Loves of a Blonde and The Firemen's Ball. It was happy to see Forman leave the country during the crackdown in 1968. Anyone who thinks Forman, when he came to America, lost his subversive sympathy for people who are at the mercy of institutions and governments needs to watch One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ragtime or The People vs. Larry Flynt.
7 out of 11 people found the following review useful: LOVES OF A BLONDE (Milos Forman, 1965) ***, 28 June 2006 Author: MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) from Naxxar, Malta
This is the second of Forman's Czech films I've watched after the other Criterion release, THE FIREMAN'S BALL (1967) - though that was via a late-night Italian TV broadcast some years ago; these two films constitute his most celebrated work from this early phase in his career.While a pleasant and sharply-observed comedy-drama in itself, which must have seemed fresh at the time (particularly the intimate detail of its teenage romance), I feel that a lot of these unassuming but critically-acclaimed foreign films - often made under strained political conditions - tend to come off as overrated when viewed today (a similar recent example I encountered was CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS [1966]). That said, the film benefits immensely from the wonderful cinematography by Miroslav Ondricek (Forman's longtime collaborator).Besides, it also includes a couple of lengthy - and delightful - set-pieces: the party sequence, in which the heroine and her two best friends are picked up by a trio of geeky middle-aged soldiers; the scene at the home of the girl's 'boyfriend' (with whom she had a one-night stand), where she causes a commotion by turning up unannounced on his doorstep with a packed suitcase! The DVD supplements comprise an amusing but irrelevant deleted scene, and an interesting 17-minute interview with Forman - in which he discusses the film's genesis and how the mix of professional and untrained actors proved providential, sealing its essential charm.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: This is about a shocking case of gender imbalance : more girls but less boys., 17 September 2008 Author: Lalit Rao (cpowerccc@yahoo.com) from Paris, France
It is true but sad that no one in the world would have known about a small Czech town named Zruc if Czech director Milos Forman had not made this film.It is a good thing that he has made it as its fresh appeal would ensure that it is remembered as a supreme example of a famous cinema movement of the sixties called Czech new wave."Lásky jedné Plavovlásky" is a touching film about sad realities, disappointments in love faced by innocent people when they pursue an idle romantic relationship.It is based on a real event which took place in Milos Forman's life when at Prague he saw a beautiful albeit a lost girl roaming in the middle of the night.We see the lives of young people especially young girls who feel bored as there is hardly any male companionship available to them.As this film was made in socialist times we also get to see the attitude of parents belonging to a socialist system.Milos Forman makes his film memorable when he deals with risks which young people take when they fall in live.He conveys that it is not so easy to continue a relationship which has remained frivolous from its inception.Loves of a blonde maintains it serious stance as there is a talk of a serious problem of dwindling male female ratio faced by many European nations.One of the most funny moments of this film include a good social experiment when an army unit is asked to move to Zruc in order to woo its lonely girls.
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful: a gem of a film about girls wanting love, 24 June 2006 Author: (mszyman@gmail.com) from Lodz & California
At a club that looks more like a high school dance during the 60s in some remote factory town in Czechoslavokia three girls are trying not to make too much eye contact with three of the many soldiers who are in attendance. After much arguing and hesitation the three soldiers approach the girls, not before ordering drinks for them that ended up at the next table of girls. But one of the girls, the main character of the story, has her eye on the young piano player. And with this Milos Forman's socially conscious odd-ball romantic tragic comedy called, Loves of a Blonde, gets rolling.The soldiers, in spite of much persistence, don't get the girls who end up going home, bored and tired, I mean except the main girl who ends up in a room with the piano player. Subtle humor and youthful and lustful recklessness are portrayed so precisely in this scene where the piano player cleverly gets the girl in bed before ranting about Prague and the girls resemblance to a Picasso-esquire guitar.To cut a long story short, the girl ends up falling for the guy and goes to visit him in Prague, but ends up meeting his parents. The mother's and the father's argue for some time about the girls arrival, for this is Eastern Europe and girls just don't come to a boys house to stay the night after a one night stand (or maybe its like this...). So the mother and the father partake in some of the most entertaining dialog I've seen in any film about this girls arrival, about their sons travels and job, and ultimately about the issues prevalent to the times, echoing an European conservative sentiment. The boy ends up coming home late after a gig and who knows what else and is met with much heat from his pants wearing mama, and he claims to have never invited any girl...If I had to say something bad about this film at gun point I might say that it is too small. Its so compact and grounded and so simple. But then again, without any gun to my face, that is exactly what makes this film work. Its like a hidden little gem from the former commie infested corner of Europe.Forman is a true auteur and this film demonstrates it well. Its a study of youth in the need for love and overworked women in search of something unfamiliar and maybe life saving, maybe city life, more likely love, and simply its about the need to find what you don't have. The factory filled with girls, the soldiers, the dance halls, the parents, the girls dormitory, all paint a very real and comically tragic picture, definitely worth seeing. 8 out of 10.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: Milos Forman from Czechoslovakia, 18 September 2009 Author: Petri Pelkonen (petri_pelkonen@hotmail.com) from Finland
Andula is working-class girl living in a Czech town.She sleeps with a pianist called Milda after a party.When she doesn't hear from him, she travels to his parents place, where he still lives.Lásky jedné plavovlásky (English title Loves of a Blonde) from 1965 was the first big hit of Milos Forman.This Czechoslovakian film was nominated for the Golden Globe and Academy Award for best foreign film.In my country, Finland, it won a Jussi Award.Hana Brejchová is wonderful as Andula.Vladimir Pucholt is terrific as Milda.Milada Jezkova and Josef Sebánek are great as his parents.The dialogue is marvelous.Like when Andula and Milda are lying in bed and he explains to her how she's angular.That the woman is shaped like a guitar but she's one painted by Picasso.And there are some terrific scenes.The restaurant scenes are fantastic.Those men on their table are checking on the women on their table, trying to find a way to approach.And when Andula arrives at Milda's place and the mother can't deal with it.Great work from the Czech master.
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