Review of The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) by Grace C — 24 Apr 2008

A remarkably mature film from the underappreciated filmmaker Philip Kaufman. This film is epic in length and size, but intimate in scope. It chronicles the lives of three Czech professionals, a womanizing doctor, his simpleminded wife, and his free-spirited mistress.

The film was notable for its then groundbreaking sexual content. It wouldn?t have been overly shocking in a film ten years older or independently made, not so much for the sex, but for the fact that this is a movie that?s quite specifically made for adult intellectual sensibilities.

I have no idea how Kaufman managed to convince a major Hollywood studio to produce this film in the middle of the mainstream cultural wasteland that was the 1980s. The acting here from Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliet Binoche and especially Lena Olin is first class, as is Kaufman?s direction.

My one complaint is the film?s use of Czech accents; while they sound authentic and are used consistently, I find the best way to deal with language when making an English language film about a foreign land is to simply use the actor?s natural rather than make the characters sound like foreigners in their own land.

That?s a minor quibble though, this is my new favorite film of 1988.