rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 1988
Directed by Philip Kaufman; produced by Saul Zaentz; screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrière, Philip Kaufman
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Derek de Lint, Erland Josephson, Stellan Skarsgård
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
'The Unbearable Lightness of Being', a beautiful title, tells the story of a
doctor in Prague named Tomas (Daniel-Day Lewis). The year is 1968 and the
Russians have yet to invade the country. Tomas has a physical relationship
with Sabina (Lena Olin) and they are both content with that. One day he
meets Tereza (Juliette Binoche), a waitress, who is the first woman to stay
the entire night with him. Eventually they get married, but this does not
mean Tomas is very faithful to her. For him sex is sex, not love.
Then the Russian invade and director Philip Kaufman shows us this in a couple
of great sequences. Tereza is a photographer and her camera, and others of
course, makes sure things can be shown in other parts of Europe. They leave
the country for Geneva where Sabina already was. Tomas continues his sexual
relationship with her, Tereza tries to do the same thing but she simply is
not like him. Sabina meets a nice guy too. His name is Franz (Derek de Lint)
and he loves her so much he is willing to leave his wife for her. The night
he decides to do that Sabina and Tereza have a little get together as well;
Tereza needs some nude shots to start a career and Sabina is willing to do
that.
How the story develops from here I will not reveal. The film takes it time
to tell us everything it wants us to know. We learn enough to understand the
characters and in the same time we learn enough about Prague after the
Russian invasion. You will get carried away by the story. Strong
performances always help in a film that really is about the characters and
here we get some great ones. Daniel Day-Lewis always find the right note for
anything and here we can see almost at once what kind of womanizer he is.
Lena Olin plays Sabina as the kind of independent woman who seems to know
everything although we always understand she has doubts too. Binoche brings
the perfect vulnerability to her Tereza, making her the character you feel
the most sympathy for.
There is one thing I did not like that much, a complaint I have with more
American films set in Europe. The people in Prague where not talking English
in 1968, or now, but they definitely did not speak English with a strange
accent. I was annoyed by this from time to time and I really can not
understand it. Just let them speak English in a normal way. This is the only
real complaint I have, although some will say it is too long. In my opinion
no good film is too long and 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' is
definitely a good film.