The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Philip Kaufman

Writers (WGA):

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

Release Date:

5 February 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A Lovers Story.

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Soviet | 1968 | Doctor | Czechoslovakia | Sex

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

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 Slaby	...	Pavel's Nephew
Pascale Kalensky	...	Nurse Katja
Jacques Ciron	...	Swiss Restaurant Manager
Anne Lonnberg	...	Swiss Photographer

Runtime:

171 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) (re-rating) (2005) | Canada:PG (Ontario) (re-rating) (2005) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) (original rating) | Canada:R (Manitoba) (2005) | Iceland:14 | Argentina:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Hong Kong:III | Singapore:R21 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Bèze, Côte-d'Or, France

Company:

The Saul Zaentz Company

Trivia:

Lena Olin's American film debut.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When Tereza goes on her first photo foray into downtown Prague the soundtrack features a woman singing a Czech version of "Hey Jude," the original Beatle version of which was not released until August 26,1968 - the week after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

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]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Judging Amy: The Unbearable Lightness of Being Family (#3.6)" (2001)

Unbearably Beautiful - one of the best films ever made

One of the most romantic films ever made, it shows the problems of people whose intimacies and personal conflicts are being interrupted by history on the move. I think this film surpasses the novel, which is utterly cynical (although understandably). Even in the last moments of the novel, Teresa is concerned that Tomas is cheating on her. The film also does well by dropping much of Franz's character - he was kind of uninteresting compared to Teresa, Tomas, and Sabina. It also drops such deadweight characters as Teresa's mother, Tomas' son, and Franz's wife. Also, a ton of different coworkers are combined into a few, so that their characters have time to develop. By concentrating on the three central characters, this film blossoms past what the novel ever achieved (although the novel is arguably more historically important). Philip Kaufman and Jean-Claude Carriere also add a couple of beautiful scenes that weren't in the novel, including Tomas' and Teresa's wedding, which is one of the most beautiful scenes in filmdom.