The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Plot synopsis:
Charismatic Czech brain surgeon Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis), a successful lothario in Communist Czechoslovakia, is pursuing a love/hate affair with Sabina (Lena Olin), an equally care-free artist in Prague. One day, Dr Tomas makes a long distance call to a spa town for a specialized surgery. There, he meets dissatisfied waitress Tereza (Juliette Binoche), who desires intellectual stimulation. She tracks him down in Prague and cohabits with him, complicating Tomas's extra-domestic sexual affairs.
Tomas asks Sabina to help Tereza find work as a photographer. Tereza is fascinated and jealous as she grasps that Sabina and Tomas are lovers, but has a somewhat lesbian affection for Sabina. Nevertheless, Tomas marries Tereza, in a simple ceremony with both perpetually laughing, followed by her double standard distress about Tomas' promiscuity. Although she considers leaving Tomas, she becomes more attached to Tomas when Soviet Army tanks invade Czechoslovakia. Amidst the confusion, Tereza photographs demonstrations against the Soviet forces and victims, then hands the rolls of film to foreigners to smuggle to the West. Facing the stultifying reality that replaced the Prague Spring, Tomas, Sabina and Tereza flee Czechoslovakia for Switzerland: first Sabina, then the hesitant Tomas and Tereza.
In Geneva, Sabina meets Franz (Derek de Lint), a married university professor: they begin a love affair. After some time, he decides to abandon his wife and family for her. After hearing the declaration, Sabina abandons Franz, feeling he would emotionally weigh her down. Meanwhile, Tereza and Tomas attempt to adapt to Switzerland, whose people Tereza finds inhospitable. When she discovers that Tomas continues womanizing, she leaves him and returns to Czechoslovakia. Upset by her leaving, Tomas follows Tereza to Czechoslovakia, where his passport is confiscated, trapping him in-country: nevertheless, his return elates Tereza. They are re-united.
In Prague, Tomas has resumed his brain surgeon position, but having written a scathing article criticizing the Soviet-backed Czech régime before the invasion, berating them for claiming ignorance of Soviet political purges but seeming unremorseful, noting Oedipus Rex plucked out his eyes upon understanding his crime, but the autocractic figures haven't, has rendered him a political anomaly and has jeopardized his re-employment. The régime demands his signature to a letter repudiating the article, claiming that Tomas' article fueled the anti-communist sentiment. Tomas refuses and is presumably black-listed from practising medicine. Tomas is apparently a window washer, and is recognized by the daughter of a high-ranking official, aware of her family connection, brazenly does his trademark "take off your clothes" line that is successful in examining a "pain in her back".
As a waitress, Tereza meets an engineer who propositions her. Aware of Tomas's infidelity, she encounters a one-time and passionless sexual liaison with the engineer. Remorseful, she fears the engineer might have been a secret agent for the régime, who might denounce her and Tomas. She contemplates suicide at a canal bank; by chance, Tomas passes by Tereza and woos her back.
Stressed by insubstantial city life, Tereza convinces Tomas to leave Prague for the country: they go to a village where an old patient of Tomas's welcomes them. In the village, they live an idyllic life, far from the political intrigues of Prague. In contrast, Sabina has gone to the US, where she continues with the detached bohemian style of life. Later, Sabina is shocked by the letter telling of the fate of Tereza and Tomas in a fatal traffic accident while returning after drinking in a tavern. Their lightness no longer unbearable, Tereza and Tomas were deeply satisfied as they drove towards death.

Tags: murder, violence, philosophical, romantic, flashback

Review:
The film begins by introducing us to Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis) a very charming womanizer and very intelligent, political doctor.
When Tomas gets a call to perform an operation in a spa town, he meets the woman of his dreams; Tereza (Juliette Binoche) the shy waitress who dreams of leaving her dull, unchallenging life and heading to a place with intellectuals.
The danger of commitment drives Sabina away and she moves to the United States, disappearing for the entire third act of the film.It's this act that is the most interesting, as it truly examines Tomas and Tereza's tumultuous relationship.
If you can see this outline in your mind's eye, you have a good idea about The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera's novel by the same name brought to life as a movie.
I'd rather see Milan Kundera's novel turned on fire than into this "something," which the director probably calls "adaptation."All the beautiful philosophy that asks "is it better to carry a heavy load on your shoulders, or cope with the unbearable lightness of being?" is put aside, and instead, all the movie deals with is Daniel Day Lewis' (I cannot say Tomas) sexual adventures with his dumb wife, his mistress, and his other mistresses.
kaufman's movie plods along with gratuitous sex scenes interspersed with often painful dialog sequences (in one scene i counted three different 'generic European' accents affected by the actors) and displays of state might run amok, yet fails to tie them together into the coherent meditation kundera offered.
This is how this strongly resembles the late Stanley Kubrick's work: meticulous, hard on the actors and often also demanding on the viewers.Kundera is heard throughout by having some of its most essential prose and ideas integrated into the dialog now and then, but as you've probably guessed, the film cannot capture the sublime subtleties and evocative expansions of the novel.
The writing and directing are on point and the philosophy and melancholy of Kundera finds an appropriate echo in this visceral art medium.With a slow beginning, the movie quickly builds momentum and the viewer hardly realizes its long running time.
The character interactions and tensions, the stunning cinematography and succession of memorable scenes and dialog inspired greatly by the original work, make the viewer actually wish the movie would go on a little longer, whisper something more to its ear.
"The Unbearable Lightness of Being" tells an old story about a  womanizer (Day-Lewis) who has an agreeable relationship with a woman (Olin) who is equally unable to commit beyond casual sex when a woman who equates sex (Binoche) with commitment enters his life, wants to love him and he her, but he is conflicted.
Dreadful script , comically bad acting , especially from the perpetually smug Daniel Day Lewis and his terrible mid European accent.It does though warrant 2 stars for the acres of bare flesh displayed by the equally gorgeous Lena Olin and Juliette Binoche.So don't waste 150 minutes of your life , search the net and find the 15 minutes or so of Olin and Binoche at their beautiful best.
The characters were very shallow, and I just couldn't identify with them at all.The bit where I did laugh was when they cut the actors into archival footage of the demonstrations in Prague - and they were black and white and then sepia to match the footage-just ludicrous.I read many of Kundera's short stories (not The Unbearable Lightness of Being), and there are good things about his style of writing (although his themes are one big male fantasy)-and I have to say, the film did NOT convey any of the goodness of Kunderas style..
There are snippets of naked flesh tossed around in a lame attempt to keep the viewer awake but they don't succeed.The best thing about the movie is Lena Olin--she does a masterful job handling her character, but Day-Lewis garbles most of his lines.Kaufman clearly had no idea how to film this.
Depicion of the socialist/communist oppression is, however, rather perfunctory, seeming not so serious as it really was in the 1970ies within the Warsaw block when hopes of intellectuals for the so-called human-faced socialism vanished as liberal steps were diminished or repealed.The cast is, of course, brilliant, in particular the bohemian ménage à trois members: Daniel Day-Lewis as Tomas, Juliette Binoche as Tereza and Lena Olin as Sabina - all later multiple Academy Award winners and/or nominees, and from different European countries (the movie itself is still the US one).
Harsh, yes, but I call 'em like I see 'em.I saw this in the late 80's, and it was truly one of the most awful, boring films I've ever forced myself to watch.Yes, the cinematography is lovely.
I'm all for romance, but this movie was so boring, I started hoping the Russians would shoot them all and put an end to my misery.I'm sure if I'd read the book, the story would have made a bit more sense.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)I liked this book a lot, and I like director Philip Kaufman's approach to movies.
For me, that wasn't always the case in the film version.Part of the problem might just be Daniel Day Lewis, who is a bit too self-satisfied, not as a character (that is certain) but as an actor.
Add to that, the almost unbearable length of the picture and it's really hard to sit through.I know this film has it's fans but reading the comments here it looks like I'm not alone in my thoughts on this.
When Milan Kundera saw this movie, he decided from then on to write novels that nobody could turn into a film.
OK, so i've read some of the reviews of people feeling really disappointed with the movie, because it was a poor adaptation of the book, Kundera himself said he would never allow a book of his to go on screen again.
I agree with Kundera and the reviewers, it is actually a very poor adaptation of an amazing book, and i have to say that "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" is the book of my life, i've read it more than once, so i was with high hopes for the movie, specially after i saw the cast.
Daniel Day-Lewis is also great as Tomas, i really liked him, and i felt that Tomas could be exactly like that, the looks and the personality.All this to say, that i gave the movie a 9 because i really loved it, in the end i tried to see it as a movie alone and not an adaptation.
Milan Kundera's philosophical novel 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' was always going to be difficult to film, a story of lives lived, ordinarily, against a backdrop of politics and eroticism.
Philip Kaufamn's attempt is long, has a wonderful score, chooses to have its cast speak English in eastern European accents, showcases Juliet Binoche's beauty, and I think succeeds in avoiding the heaviness, the moral weight, that the story's characters find fundamentally absent from the business of simply being alive from one moment to the next.
Although the ending was sad, getting to it was extremely engrossing, with a love scene between Lena Olin and Juliette Binoche one of the most erotic I have ever seen in any film.
I have not read the book and I am sure it would provide far greater detail of life behind the Iron Curtain but for those not interested in weighty novels, and having spent some time in eastern Europe, I can testify that this film gives the viewer some notion of what life must have been like, including the crushing of the Prague Spring of 1968.
In 1968, a Czech doctor (Daniel Day-Lewis) with an active sex life meets a woman who wants monogamy, and then the Soviet invasion further disrupts their lives.As someone who loves Milan Kundera, and considers him the greatest living novelist (as of 2015), this is a strange adaptation.
Of course, this could just be my memory and the aspects that stood out for me.In a note to the Czech edition of the book, Kundera himself remarks that the movie had very little to do with the spirit either of the novel or the characters in it.
Only Juliette Lewis gives a great performance and has a character who can evoke empathy from the viewer.I don't understand why this movie was so popular when it was released.
Call me what you will but on some levels, it just didn't work.Adapted from the acclaimed novel by Milan Kundera, "The Unbearable Lightness Of Being" takes us back to Prague in the days before Soviet occupation.
At times, I felt like the movie was talking to me on a different intellectual plain that I couldn't understand and the fact that a lot of dialogue seems to be whispered didn't help - I needed the DVD's subtitles, that's for sure.
Unbearable Lightness of Being is a long Euro-look bittersweet romance, with some comedic moments, set in late 60's Central Europe.It asks, "what makes life worth living?"  Various answers suggested during the movie are an epic sex life, one's career, being true to political beliefs, artistic expression, Western materialism, monogamous dedication, and the simple pleasures of rural life.
The year is 1968.Tomas is a Czech brain surgeon.Sabina (Lena Olin) is his lover with a bowler hat.They are sexually very active.He is that with other women too.He meets the young and sweet Tereza (Juliette Binoche).With her it's more than sex.The situation creates some jealousy.The political situation in Czechoslovakia is not so good.In 1968 The Prague Spring took place.That was the good period when reformist Alexander Dubcek made an effort to liberalize the Communist regime, to create socialism with a human face.That meant loosening of restrictions on the media, speech and travel.Those changes weren't liked in the Soviet Union and its leader Leonid Brezhnev.The Soviet tanks start rolling into the country on August 21st.Tereza is a photographer and she takes photos of the Soviet invasion.They don't like that.Philip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) is a near masterpiece.It's based on the wonderful novel by Milan Kundera (written in 1982) which I read a few years ago.Daniel Day-Lewis is known as a man who picks his roles carefully and keeps winning awards.His work as Tomas is excellent.Juliette Binoche is amazing as Tereza.Lena Olin is a perfect choice for the part of Sabina.This was the American debut for this Swedish actress.Other actors are also great.Donald Moffat plays Chief Surgeon.Stellan Skarsgård plays The Engineer.And let's not forget Karenin the dog.The Czech filmmaker Jan Nemec worked as an adviser in this picture.They use some of the stuff he filmed during the revolution.We actually get to see him in the archive footage and also in a small role in this movie.The Unbearable Lightness of Being is an erotic tale mixed with politics.It all works very well.This is a highly intelligent movie.Not too many of them around..
Although it was bigger and louder on the wide screen, the points that make this movie a special one run true even on a mediocre television set: you feel that you are watching the lives of people, not seeing constructions forced into a contrived plot.You can see how Teresa, Tomas and Sabina's actions flow from what they are on the *inside*: how Tomas is driven to his womanizing by his need to be 'light', and how Teresa finds this 'lightness' unbearable by her need for intimacy.Add on the absolutely mesmerizing cinematography (it acts as naturally as Teresa, Tomas, and Sabina do), and music that seems written for the movie yet is over 60 years old, and you get a movie that is breathtaking and can easily be as enjoyed on both a TV or a movie theatre.
great story line powerful acting by Daniel Day -Lewis Julliete Binoche and Lena Olin.
And there is a real chemistry between Daniel Day Lewis Lena Olin and Juliette Binoche so sexual scenes are really HOT.
Director Philip Kaufman's ambitious screen adaptation of Milan Kundera's elaborate lover's triangle is, despite its cumbersome literary title, intelligent pop entertainment: an intimate epic of sexual freedom set against a vivid backdrop of political repression in Czechoslovakia during and after Prague Spring.The complexity of the tripartite relationship between incurably promiscuous man of medicine Daniel Day-Lewis and two contrasting women (mistress Lena Olin and naïve but knowing wife Juliette Binoche) more than compensates for the occasional broad-as-a-barn-door strokes of pathos and humor (step forward, Mephisto the pet pig).
Daniel Day Lewis' acting missed the mark often, and with his accent and the accents of much of the rest of the cast often being the "unbearable" part of this movie, I found myself wishing that i was reading subtitles.
It was refreshing to see Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binocche, and Lena Olin in their "youth" after having seen all of them in more recent films.
Great interpretation, and even Teresa, Sabina...so cool, and Franz cool too, even in the novel is the one with the less sympathies on.I love the plot, and now I love even the filming of it and I'm pleasured to have the imagine of Thomas made up from Daniel Day Lewis.If I can say the best scene of the movie, or peraphs the one I like the most...what about Thomas met Sabina in Geneva?
Daniel Day-Lewis is superb as the randy neurosurgeon Tomas - still at it though reduced to window-cleaning - Lena Olin is stunning as his sexy mistress and Juliette Binoche, so young, so heart-rending, astonishes as Tereza.
being such a cold hearted man like Tomas is great.the whole storyline goes in 1968 about Tomas(Daniel Day-Lewis),a doctor who is in close sex encounter with women.but the woman who understands him the most is Sabina(Lena Olin),the woman who seems to love Tomas but Tomas never wants to be involves with love or marriage or things like that.once he goes to Prague for an operation and he meets Tereza(Juliette Binoche),and find himself in affair with her,but he leaves the city to his normal un-moral life.Tereza comes to his apartment in Prague and starts to fall in love with Tomas.and asks him to marry to her...the whole film is about to affairs that Tomas is involves with,but the most sensitive affair that Tomas is involved is Tereza's.he finds purity and innocence in her love.thats why he cant go on with many women around him.such as Sabina or the nurse or so many others.but since he lives with Tereza,he can not resist others attraction.the message of this movie is that love is pure and makes the soul of one man free.
Milan Kundera's novel of lust and love against the backdrop of Eastern European revolution was brought to the screen by Philip Kaufman, with the accent on the sex rather than the politics.
Soaking his story in a liberal smattering of Janacek tunes (and an excellent version of Hey Jude), Kaufman's film follows its three protagonists - Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis); Sabina (the lovely Lena Olin, who provides the defining image of the film, crouched with her hat at an angle); and innocent Tereza (the first time many of us saw Juliette Binoche, who was excellent).I remember 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' with affection as it was one of those 'forbidden' films which appealed to the adolescent as well as those looking for a bit more political consciousness.
I have not read the Milan Kundera novel, although I surely plan to, but the film is something like I have never seen before.
It is a beautiful film, and I would have maybe given an eight, maybe even a nine, If I had not read the book.PS Great Acting.
Please, if you want to experience the full depth of THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING, read the book before you watch the movie..
But those two things work perfectly within the context of the movie.Again, the only problem I had was the length, but if you are looking for a beautiful film about characters and how environments affect relationships at all levels, do check this out..
Daniel Day-Lewis and Juliette Binoche are truly brilliant in their roles, and the cinematography is well-done, but I found the script in bad need of a rewrite.Certainly, not all artsy films are pretentious, but this one became quite so.
Juliette Binoche's Tereza is heartbreaking in her pure adoration of Daniel Day-Lewis's Tomas; anyone who has experienced unrequited love will be touched by the distance she goes for him.
According to a number of reviews that I've read (here on IMDb) - This 1988 movie was, apparently, an absolute corruption of the novel, which was written by Czech-writer, Milan Kundera, in 1984.Perhaps this was so (I haven't read Kundera's book) - But I will tell you one thing that's totally true - At a 3-hour running time, "The Unbearable Lightness Of Being" was, indeed, totally unbearable to tolerate.Regardless of containing some deliberately distracting, soft-core erotica, thrown into the story for good measure, the love-triangle that transpired between Tomas, Tereza and Sabina was such a tiresome, little, cry-baby affair that any gratuitous sexuality wedged into the action only served to render the rest of the story as being nothing but a blasted bore.Set in Prague in the year 1968 - Believe me, this film was very-very dry storytelling.And, I think that that dullard, actor, Daniel Day-Lewis, was totally miscast as the fickle, conceited, playboy doctor who seemed to spend a good part of his waking hours dutifully jumping in and out of bed with one babe after another..
Tomas and the political tension in Prague is here the central character, but from my point of view there wouldn't be this book and thus this film without Tereza.
i would highly recommend this movie to anyone who prefers an art film with and unusual ( but beautiful) love story....
I defy anyone who sees this film not to be moved by it in some way, and how many movies have the power to do that, especially these days?In addition, the performances by all Day-Lewis, Binoche, and Olin are masterful.