Czech New Wave Cinema Daises (1966) directed by Věra Chytilová

Czech New Wave Cinema

Daises (1966) directed by Věra Chytilová

Czech New Wave Cinema (1960’s)

™Disgruntled with the communist regime that had taken over in Czechoslovakia in 1948, students of the Film and TV School of The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (also known as FAMU) became the dissenters of their time.

™Their objective in making films was to make the Czech people collectively aware that they were participants in a system of oppression and incompetence which had brutalized them all.

Style of Czech New Wave Cinema

™Long unscripted dialogues, dark and absurd humor, and the casting of non-professional actors.

™The films touched on themes which for earlier film makers in the communist countries had rarely managed to avoid the objections of the censor.

™During the Communist era, "high art" was often perceived as a tool for avoiding the censor, as direct expression was prohibited.

Daises (1966) directed by Věra Chytilová

Summary

Summary: Two teenage girls, both named Marie, decide that since the world is spoiled they will be spoiled as well; accordingly they embark on a series of destructive pranks in which they consume and destroy the world about them.

RECEPTION

“Each of my films has met a certain resistance on the part of authority”

•Denounced for “having nothing in common with out Republic, socialism, and the ideals of communism”

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•In 1972, six years after Daises was released, a government committee terminated Chytilova’s contract with the government run Czech film studio Barrandov

•They cited her films as “experimental by nature, uncommitted and pessimistic,” as well as “elitist”. Government banned the film, and Chytilova was banned from making any films between 1969 and 1975.

™ Chytilova herself suspected these allegations were largely due to misogyny, and speculated the real reason the government had a problem with her films was because she was a woman.

™She meant it to be a coded critique of its protagonists – critics shallowly saw the antics of the protagonists as meaningless and wasteful (especially for wasting so much food), and ignored the ending where the girls were punished. Chytilova felt the film was misunderstood.

™Collaboration between three key Czech New Wave luminaries (Vera Chytilova, - director/screenwriter, Ester Krumachova – screenwriter and set designer, Jaroslav Kucera - cinematographer)

™In interviews, Chytilova stated she wanted the film to be “a philosophical document in the form of farce”, and a “bizarre comedy with strands of satire and sarcasm.”

™“because the concept of the film was destruction, the form became destructive as well” – this accounts for the episodic nature of the film. It plays more like a series of adventures than a typical beginning/middle/end narrative. Note too the surrealist cinematography of Jaroslav Kucera. He experiments with many techniques that add to the film’s feeling of destruction and chaos.

™Stars two girls- Marie 1 and Marie 2 – nonactors- going on a rampage of gluttony, destruction, and excess.

™Chytilova stated she meant her protagonists to be “parasites”, calling the whole film “a parable on the destructive force of nihilism and senseless provocation”

™Meant to be a critique of bourgeois idea of women as “pretty accessories”, or fashion models, and Chytilova insisted she meant to critique and not condone their excesses and exploits.

™Godard thought that the film treated its subjects too lovingly to be a real critique.

™The film contains many references to marionettes and mannequins. This is meant to highlight how vacant and self indulgent they are, so she literally postures them as dolls.

™ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md-LwM0s9fY&feature=related

™Images of food and eating – in line with the parodies/critiques on consumption Chytilova mean to comment on.

™http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCb6TCiIG3s&feature=related