The unbearable lightness of being (film)

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Movie
German title The unbearable lightness of being
Original title The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1988
length 165 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Philip Kaufman
script Jean-Claude Carrière , Philip Kaufman
production Bertil Ohlsson , Saul Zaentz
music Leoš Janáček
camera Sven Nykvist
cut Vivien Hillgrove Gilliam , Michael Magill , Walter Murch
occupation

The Unbearable Lightness of Being is an American film drama by Philip Kaufman from the year 1988 . The screenplay was written by Jean-Claude Carrière and Philip Kaufman based on the novel of the same name by Milan Kundera .

action

Prague , 1968. The young, attractive surgeon Tomáš leads an informal private life with numerous love affairs. His relationship with the artist Sabina, with whom he also has thoughtful conversations, is particularly intense.

During a professional stay in a run-down spa town, he falls in love with the waitress Teresa, who later visits him unannounced in Prague. A steady relationship grows between the two, but he does not end his affairs. Sabina and Teresa become friends, Sabina even helps Teresa find a new job as a photographer. Teresa and Tomáš finally get married. But Tomáš's continued affairs lead to Teresa nightmares.

During the Prague Spring, Tomáš expresses his views on Stalinism and writes them down, encouraged by a friend. A newspaper publishes the text in which Tomáš compares the socialist leaders with Oedipus . He did not know who he had killed, but at least punished himself when he realized his mistake, while the Stalinists pretend nothing had happened.

When troops marched into Prague in August 1968 and the Prague Spring ended, Sabina emigrated to Geneva. Teresa photographs the violence in Prague and is therefore temporarily arrested. When she is released again, Tomáš and Teresa also make their way to Switzerland. Tomáš accepted a position in Geneva that had previously been offered to him several times. Teresa, however, who likes to photograph current events, finds no satisfactory job in the lush life of the West. Her pictures of the events in Prague are admired, but are not up to date enough for the media.

Although Sabina started a relationship with Franz, who is otherwise married, in Switzerland, she still meets Tomáš occasionally, from which Teresa also suffers. Finally, Teresa returns to Prague alone and leaves Tomáš a letter in which she describes that life is very easy for him, but all the more difficult for her, and that she can no longer stand the ease with which he lives. Sabina also leaves Switzerland when Franz wants to enter into a stable relationship with her and moves to the USA. Tomáš follows Teresa to Prague, where he refuses, however, to revoke his earlier statements critical of the system, so that he is no longer allowed to work as a surgeon and is therefore a window cleaner. Teresa starts an affair with another man, an engineer. As a former ambassador who now has to work as a cleaning man, but opens her eyes to the fact that her acquaintance with the alleged engineer was deliberately staged in this way and she realizes that everyone in Prague is spying on everyone, Teresa would like to leave the country again. But Tomáš explains to her that they can no longer leave Czechoslovakia because their passports were confiscated when they crossed the border. The only way out is to move to the country.

On the lonely homestead of an old friend of Tomáš's, the two finally seem happy before they die in a car accident.

criticism

The lexicon of international films wrote that the film was "partly loaded with effects", "sentimentally played out" and "technically extremely sophisticated". He only marginally illuminates the connection between historical events and “personal fate”, but shows a “feeling for places, objects and, above all, bodies”, with which he addresses “the tension between sexuality and feeling”.

Awards

In 1989 the film was nominated for an Oscar in the categories of Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography (Sven Nykvist) ; In the same year, Lena Olin and the film each received a Golden Globe nomination in the Best Drama category .

The script won a BAFTA Award in 1989 and was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award. Sven Nykvist won the Independent Spirit Award in 1989 ; In 1988 he was also nominated for the Best Cinematography Award from the British Society of Cinematographers and in 1989 for an ASC Award from the American Society of Cinematographers. Furthermore, like Philip Kaufman, the film received the National Society of Film Critics Award that year.

background

The film was shot in France , including Paris and Lyon , and Geneva . The production cost was estimated that 18 million US dollars . It only grossed about $ 10 million in American cinemas but was a huge commercial hit in Europe.

DVD publications

  • The unbearable lightness of being. Special edition . 2 disc set. Warner Home Video 2006
  • The unbearable lightness of being . Warner Home Video 2008

literature

proof

  1. ↑ The unbearable lightness of being. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film Service , accessed October 12, 2011 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ Filming locations according to IMDB.com
  3. ↑ Box office results according to IMDB.com

Web links