Unbearable Lightness of Being-Special Ed (1988)

"A veritable masterpiece...  Screen International
"...wondrous and sensuous love story.  The Hollywood Reporter

Editor's Note THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING is a sensual and sensitive adaptation of Milan Kundera's tragicomic existentialist novel that follows the story of Thomas (Daniel Day Lewis), a womanizing Czech doctor in 1968 Prague, prior to the Soviet invasion, whose sexual appetite is never fully satisfied. Thomas believes in keeping sexual gratification separate from love and finds true understanding and erotic bliss with Sabina (Lena Olin), a seductive and elusive artist. However, Thomas's understanding of love and commitment is challenged when he meets Tereza (Juliette Binoche), a sexually naive and innocent young woman who captures Thomas's fancy on an out-of-town business trip. When Tereza appears on his Prague doorstep, Thomas lets down his guard and allows the young woman to stay with him, breaking all his rules regarding the dangers of seductive entanglement. Despite his numerous affairs, Thomas falls deeply in love with Tereza, and they eventually marry. Sabina accepts Thomas's marriage to Tereza, but Tereza cannot accept Thomas's many lovers and is deeply hurt by her sly husband. Tereza's own sexual awakening and creative spirit is at the core of the film, as she is undeniably captivating to both Thomas and Sabina, who becomes her friend and artistic mentor. The three become involved in an intense love triangle that is eventually shattered by the violent Soviet invasion of 1968. Tereza's burgeoning photographic passion is documented in a creative black-and-white montage of the invasion, beautifully crafted by cinematographer Sven Nykvist. This captivating and brilliant literary adaptation is a subtle and complex character study in which Daniel Day Lewis, Lena Olin, and Juliette Binoche give magnificent lead performances.

	Daniel Day-Lewis
	Derek De Lint
	Juliette Binoche
	Lena Olin
	Bertil Ohlsson - Producer
	Jean-Claude Carriere, et. al. - Writer
	Mark Adler - Musical Score
	Milan Kundera - Based On Novel By
	Philip Kaufman - Director
	Saul Zaentz - Producer
	Sven Nykvist - Director of Photography

Philip Kaufman's film tells the erotic story of a womanizing Czech doctor in 1968 Prague, prior to the Soviet invasion, whose sexual appetite is never fully satisfied. Deeply in love with his young wife, Tereza, he finds true understanding only in bed with his lover, Sabina, who shares the same attitude about sex. Tereza does not and is deeply hurt by his numerous affairs. After the invasion, they leave for Switzerland, but Tereza cannot stand it and returns to Prague. Tomas realizes he cannot live without her and must decide how important his personal and sexual freedom really is to him. New York Times
"...[Day-Lewis, Binoche and Olin] are surprisingly fine -- both modest and intense....Notably ambitious..." 02/05/1988 p.C8

Variety
"...Mature, serious and intellectual....Great films are seldom made from great novels, but THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING stands as a stunning and surprising exception..." 02/03/1988

Los Angeles Times
"...Kaufman has made a fine-looking film. He has cast the three points of his erotic triangle bravely and adroitly..." 02/05/1988 p.C1

Sight and Sound
"...Kaufman's incorporation of documentary footage from 1968 is well executed..." 10/01/2003 p.78

Premiere
"Kaufman proves that an American can direct a smart, sexy, and tasteful European-style art film." 03/01/2004 p.96

Premiere
3 stars out of 4 -- "[A] contemplation of the meaning of life and death and sex and freedom and a whole lot in between....[I]t's a compellingly adult film..." 06/01/2006 p.102-104

Sight and Sound
"[T]his is still intelligent and very well-crafted fare. Daniel Day-Lewis brings plenty of charm to his role..." 06/01/2006 p.92

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
The film will be noticed primarily for its eroticism. Although major films and filmmakers considered sex with great frankness and freedom in the early and mid-'70s, films in the last decade have been more adolescent, more plot- and action-oriented. Catering to audiences of adolescents, who are comfortable with sex only when it is seen in cartoon form, Hollywood has also not been comfortable with the complications of adult sexuality - the good and the bad. What is remarkable about "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," however, is not the sexual content itself, but the way Kaufman has been able to use it as an avenue for a complex story, one of nostalgia, loss, idealism and romance. - Roger Ebert