Věra Chytilová
- 1966Daisies
- 1963Something Different
- 1970Fruit of Paradise
Two girls called Marie wreck a banquet for fun in her film Daisies, the censors complained about the wasted food, and after 1968 she was kept from directing for years.
Chytilová was born in Ostrava in 1929 and raised Catholic. She studied philosophy and architecture in Brno, then worked as a draughtswoman, fashion model, photo retoucher and clapper girl at Barrandov Studios in Prague. At 28 she got into FAMU, the Prague film school, as its first woman directing student, and studied under Otakar Vávra. Her graduation film, Ceiling, follows a student trying to become a fashion model.
Her first feature, Something Different (1963), cuts between the Olympic gymnast Eva Bosáková in training and a worn-out housewife, and won the main prize at Mannheim. Daisies (1966) was co-written with Ester Krumbachová and shot by Jaroslav Kučera, her husband. After a deputy, Jaroslav Pružinec, attacked it in parliament in May 1967, it was pulled from major cinemas and barred from export, and the authorities singled out the waste of food.
Fruit of Paradise (1970), made with Krumbachová and Kučera again, retells Adam and Eve and was entered at Cannes. After the Soviet-led invasion of 1968 she was kept from features for years, and at times made television commercials under a pseudonym. She appealed to President Gustáv Husák and came back with The Apple Game (1977). She went on directing and teaching at FAMU, and died in Prague in 2014.
Films
Where to start with Věra Chytilová, in the order they were made. Runtimes are approximate.
Still from Something Different to come. Something Different
Two stories alternate: the Olympic gold medallist Eva Bosáková, playing herself, trains for a competition, and a housewife played by Věra Uzelacová, worn down by chores and a neglectful husband, drifts into an affair. It won the main prize at the 1963 Mannheim Film Festival.
Daisies
Two young women, both called Marie, cadge dinners from older men, play pranks and finally smash up a banquet laid out for someone else, until a chandelier comes down on them. Jaroslav Kučera's camera switches between colour, black and white and tinted footage, and the leads, Jitka Cerhová and Ivana Karbanová, were not professional actresses.
Still from Fruit of Paradise to come. Fruit of Paradise
Adam and Eve retold: Eva, on holiday with her husband Josef, falls for a stranger, Robert, who turns out to be a killer. Ester Krumbachová co-wrote it and designed the costumes and decor, and it was entered at Cannes in 1970.