8. Věra Chytilová: Daisies (Sedmikrásky, 1966)


12 November


Story: Věra Chytilová, Pavel Juráček. Screenplay: Ester Krumbachová, Věra Chytilová. Director of
photography: Jaroslav Kučera. Costume Designer: Ester Krumbachová. Editor: Miroslav Hájek. Music:
Jiří Šust, Jiří Šlitr. Cast: Jitka Cerhová (Marie I), Ivana Karbanová (Marie II). Running time: 73
min.



“Some days ago I saw a film – its title was Daisies – and it told a story about two beautiful
disgusting little girls, absolutely satisfied by their lovely dullness and destroying everything in
a spirit of fun, everything that extended beyond their horizon. It seems to me like a far-reaching
and topical parable about vandalism. (…) The vandal, as I see him, lives in good social conditions,
he is satisfied with himself and has no reason for any revenge. The vandal is a splendid dullness,
feeling good in itself and ready to demand its democratic rights any time.”

                                                                                      Milan Kundera



The presentation of the Czech new wave starts with a shocking “philosophy burlesque” made by the
most famous, radically innovative and provocative Czech woman director, Věra Chytilová, the
cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera and the scriptwriter and costume-designer Ester Krumbachová. The
preview in 1967 was accompanied by an atmosphere of scandal. We can read this movie as a political
parable or a morality story made from a feminist point of view. Other outstanding films by
Chytilová include Fruit of Paradise (1969), The Apple Game (1976), Panelstory (1979), Calamity
(1981), Trap, Trap, Little Trap (1998) and her latest movie Ban from Paradise (2001).




Assigned reading:


·        Hames, Peter. The Czechoslovak New Wave: “Věra Chytilová.”