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MovieMail's Review
Michael Brooke finds true originality in this satirical, wild and irreverent story of teenage rebellion.
The Czech New Wave is a deceptively straightforward label for a vast range of films, spanning the gently humanist Closely Observed Trains, the satirical The Fireman's Ball, the fantastical Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, and Vera Chytilová's Daisies, which is so far out in its own little corner that it defies classification altogether.
It's nominally a quasi-feminist melodrama about two self-styled 'bad girls' (both named Marie) cheerfully exploiting any well-heeled male who succumbs to their charms – their attitude is that since everyone else is terminally spoilt, why shouldn't they get a piece of the action? But that description doesn't begin to do justice to Chytilová's treatment, with its wildly free-associative montages, psychedelic colour effects, a deliberately incongruous soundtrack, absurdist set-pieces (many consciously harking back to slapstick comedy) and an overriding impression of gleeful anarchy.
Unsurprisingly, the Communist authorities loathed it, and temporarily shelved it – only to let it out just before the 1968 Prague Spring, whose peculiar anything-goes creative energy Chytilová had already captured to perfection. Few so-called art movies are this much fun.
All new director-approved digital transfer from original negative materials with restored picture and sound
Jasmina Blaževič
's acclaimed documentary film portrait of director Vě
ra Chytilová, Journey (Cesta) (53 mins)
Booklet.
Film Description
A satirical, wild and irreverent story of teenage rebellion, in which two young women rebel against a degenerate and oppressive society, attacking symbols of wealth and bourgeois culture, Vera Chytilova's 'Daisies' is one of the Czech New Wave's standout moments. The women's anarchic antics are mirrored by the carefree, almost delirious abandon of the film's structure, colours and visual effects. With playfully inventive compositions, men are reduced to the size of a toy.
Chytilova surpasses even the genial Jiri Menzel in her blissful critique of the pieties and austerities associated with the Czech Stalinist regime under President Husa... more >
Chytilova surpasses even the genial Jiri Menzel in her blissful critique of the pieties and austerities associated with the Czech Stalinist regime under President Husak. DAISIES is an exercise in revolutionary modernism, anarcho-dadaist in spirit and form. 21 deputies objected in parliament to the extravagant waste of food in the film, and Chytilova had to defend her film on communist-moral grounds: i.e. the two female protagonists (Marie 1 Jitka Cerkova, Marie 2 Ivana Karbanova) were spoilt brats to be condemned as so much waste-matter in the body politic of the workers' state.
But, we know that they are feminist anarchists, living (in terms of the plot narrative - Yes, there is one!) off silly old men (like me) who buy them dinners, and (in terms of the poetic texture of the film - the way to a true reading of all films!) calling everything into question with the unquenchable brio of indestructible cartoon characters (they eat with gusto even photographs of food from glossy magazines). We, the audience, are happily infected by the blessed spirit of nihilism Chytilova has conjured up in those dangerous and exhilarating days of the Prague Spring. First there was Kafka (AMERIKA), then there was Hasek (THE GOOD SOLDIER SVEJK), and then there was Vera Chytilova... DAISIES ranks in my best ten films of all time. < less
Vera Chytilovas stylish New Wave fantasy is usually panned nowadays as an excessive example of its historical moment. But this odyssey in which two pretty girls bring ... more >
Vera Chytilovas stylish New Wave fantasy is usually panned nowadays as an excessive example of its historical moment. But this odyssey in which two pretty girls bring anarchy to a series of restaurants and night-clubs still packs an allegorical punch. Oh, if women ruled the world… < less
Vera Chytilova's 'Daisies', one of the Czech New Wave's standout moments, celebrates the anarchic antics of two young women, mirrored by the carefree, almost delirious... more >
Vera Chytilova's 'Daisies', one of the Czech New Wave's standout moments, celebrates the anarchic antics of two young women, mirrored by the carefree, almost delirious abandon of the film's structure, colours and visual effects. Dismissed by some critics as juvenile, the film nevertheless makes serious points about restrictive social mores and patriarchal order. With playfully inventive compositions, men are reduced to the size of a toy.
Some reviewers think it's nonsensical rubbish, others have been less dismissive (rightly). It may not be earth shatteringly profound, but nor is it meaninglessly juvenile.
I really enjoyed its anarchic playfulness, visual and aural invention. It made me think of Rivette's Celine and Julie stuck in a demented slapstick episode of TV's "Take Hart", directed by Paradjanov on magic mushrooms. I smiled throughout.
I'm surprised it hasn't got a stronger cult following. It should have, it seems ripe for rediscovery or re-appraisal. I know one feminist critic recently put it in her Top Ten.
Verdict : Excellent < less
