The Unbearable Lightness of Being **** (1988, Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin) – Classic Movie Review 11,872

Czech-born novelist Milan Kundera’s best-known work is The Unbearable Lightness of Being: the idea is that everything is guaranteed to recur infinitely in an infinite universe. But he complained about the film version.

Director Philip Kaufman’s 1988 American drama film The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a clever and intelligent version of Milan Kundera’s 1984 novel, with a largely European cast in Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Erland Josephson, Daniel Olbrychski, Derek de Lint, Donald Moffat, and Stellan Skarsgård.

Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Tomas, a Prague neurosurgeon who romances delicate Tereza (Binoche) and tough Sabina (Olin) against the background of the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

An unusual mix of sex and politics works well on screen here, for it jells and excites, though knowledge of the book helps as Kaufman makes his way steadily through a long movie of 171 minutes.

The stars and support actors are ideally cast, with Lena Olin outstanding. Acting, script (Jean-Claude Carrière, Philip Kaufman) and photography (Sven Nykvist) are impeccable. It is a credit to the The Saul Zaentz Company, who produced it, and Orion Pictures, who released it.

It was filmed in France, with archive footage of the Soviet invasion combined with new material shot in Lyons.

Though Kundera was an active consultant during production, he later complained that the film had very little to do with the spirit of his novel or its characters.

Inevitably, it struggled at the box office. Costing $17 million, it earned $10 million.

There were two Oscar nominations: Jean-Claude Carrière and Philip Kaufman for Best Adapted Screenplay and Sven Nykvist for Best Cinematography.

A digitally restored version was released on DVD by The Criterion Collection in November 1999. It was re-released on DVD by Warner Home Video as a two-disc special edition on 28 February 2006.

The cast are Daniel Day-Lewis as Tomas, Juliette Binoche as Tereza, Lena Olin as Sabina, Derek de Lint as Franz, Erland Josephson as Ambassador, Pavel Landovský as Pavel, Donald Moffat as Chief Surgeon, Tomek Bork as Jiri, Daniel Olbrychski as Interior Ministry official, Stellan Skarsgård as The Engineer, Anne Lonnberg as Swiss photographer, Tomek Bork, Bruce Myers, Pavel Slaby, Pascale Kalensky, and Jacques Ciron.

Daniel Day-Lewis announced his retirement after completing Phantom Thread (2017).

Milan Kundera (1 April 1929 – 11 July 2023).

The Czech-born novelist Milan Kundera went into exile in France in 1975, acquiring citizenship in 1981. He died after a long illness in Paris on 11 July 2023, at the age of 94. The Unbearable Lightness of Being is his best-known work: the idea is that everything is guaranteed to recur infinitely in an infinite universe.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 11,872

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