THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING (1988) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1998 Ted Prigge
Director: Philip Kauffman Writers: Jean-Claude Carrièreand Philip Kauffman (based on the novel by Milan Kundera) Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Derek de Lint, Erland Josephson, Pavel Landowsky, Donald Moffat, Stellan Skarsgård, Tomek Bork, Daniel Olbrychski
"The Unbearable Lightness of Being" is one of the great stories about sex primarily because it knows exactly how to tell it. Here's a film that takes eroticism completely seriously, existing on some kind of other plane of being...a light plane if you will. The entire film feels like one sustained thought about eroticism, but it also contains thoughts on sex, promiscuity, and the way that life constantly interrupts this kind of being, and that sex is something that is truly a many splendored thing, but it's also something that cannot be sustained.
The film is a 3 hour thought on all of this, told in a light-weighted, almost ethereal tone which has prompted certain groups to refer to it as "The Unbearable Lightness of Boring." In some ways, these people are right: few things occur in this film, and scenes are extended beyond what they usually would last in a standard film. But this film isn't interested in details, or really telling a story as it is with establishing the correct mood, and saying some very deep things in the process.
The story itself could be interpreted as melodrama: a promiscuous doctor, Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis, with big Ben Stiller hair), marries a somewhat eccentric country girl, Tereza (Juliette Binoche, very pre-"English Patient"), but also conducts affairs with numerous women while still staying emotionally faithful to Tereza. Tomas has always been a womanizer, and in the first scene of the film, tells a nurse at his hospital whom he has had some relations with to take her clothes off because he "missed something last night." And she does. When he marries Tereza, it's a tough thing for him to do because, unlike him, Tereza is not a person who can have meaningless affairs, and Tomas's cheating on her worries her.
There's another main character: Sabina (sweedish actress Lena Olin), who is introduced with a title card that says she's the only person who understands Tomas and his "lightness of being." She too is promiscuous, and she is shown at one time conducting an affair with a man named Franz (Derek de Lint) who sleeps with her, then shows up one night at her apartment to announce that he's left his wife and wishes to live with her. This frightens Sabina chiefly because she too is falling in love with him and still wants to keep on living the way she does.
There are few other characters, most who come and go in the film, much like Franz does. But we are introduced to a few people who pop up every now and then, including a chief surgeon at Tomas's hospital in Prague played by Donald Moffat (who played the president in "Clear and Present Danger"); and other characters who show up for only a brief period of time and then disappear, like an Engineer played by Stellan Skarsgård (who recently played Proffessor Lambeau in the overrated "Good Will Hunting) who has an all-too brief affair wit Tereza at one point in the film. The triumverate of characters are all the film is really interested in, and this creates a closed vaccuum that the film lives in, protecting it from outside forces, like these supporting characters who show up now and then.
The film also introduces politics and a war, as it takes place in Prague during the "Prague Spring" of 1969. It really could be any war, but this war is special because it deals with communism and the freedom of expression. As the film goes on, Tomas becomes more and more outraged by this war, and his entire livelihood is threatened, as well as Sabina's and Tereza's. The war of course is symbolic of reality's way of crushing the finer parts of life, like sex and other forms of emotional liberation. Sex for Tomas and Sabina is a form of escapism, but this kind of living becomes endangered because it has no center in reality.
The war scenes are handled nicely: without any real detail and with horror. The film never truly establishes what war it is, but later tells us that it has to deal with communism. The film is not concerned with such petty details as the cause of the war, or even the outcome. Such things are not necessary to the film. It wants to show the effects it has on the people in the film, the way it causes them to have to break from their state of being, and enter into reality.
But the film sustains a kind of hypnotic pull to it. It's scenes are often lengthy, filled with humor and a certain kind of eroticism. Philip Kauffman (who directed the first NC-17 film, "Henry and June," a couple years later) directs the film with a light touch, making everything seem effortless, and nothing but the war sequences coming off as jolting. The scenes themselves have lots of risque things going on which never seem to attract attention themselves like they would in, say, a porn film. We delight in seeing them because they come off so nicely and with such a gentle yet firm touch.
One scene imparticular stands out in the mind. That's a scene where Tereza, who's a photographer and just has gotten a job in Geneva (after they've retreated there), discovers that to get more jobs, she has to photograph naked women. She visits Sabina, who's also in Geneva, and asks her to pose nude for her. Sabina agrees, and what occurs is so perfecly orchestrated that it comes off as a 10 minute sustained breath. Everything they do is so sensual that I would be shocked if anyone was able to move during this scene. It's an example of how minimalism works perfectly in creating eroticism: the two women never have sex, but they come so close that it still comes off as satisfying.
The ending of this scene is perfect, with an intrusion into this form of escapism that brings reality back to the foreground. The entire film is like this, dealing with sex on an intelligent level. It views sex as a form of escapism in life, and because sex can never last forever, there are constant intrusions, spoiling the moment. This is one of the only films that view sex and promiscuity in a positive light. It views it so kindly because of the more philosophical ideas of it: it is a way to forget about the terrors of the world, and while it's going on, we are almost not aware of any outside influences and problems, like war or even STDs.
It also views this kind of living as something that some people have and some don't. While Tomas and Sabina have it, Tereza doesn't, and her few attempts to gain it for herself come out as horrible and tragic. But Tomas and Sabina easily live with this kind of living, save for the constant interruptions they have that break the moment.
You also have to respect how this film is so ungraphic about sex. Despite the fact that the subject of this film is sex, it doesn't have tons of graphic sex or all sorts of nudity. Yes, there is a little bit of both, but the film does not become excessive at all. It views sex as a kind of hypnotic mystique, making it all the more erotic and sensual. We never get nasty close-ups, or linger over sex for long periods of time for the reason that some person may find it fun to jack off to. It has a deep respect for sex, and Kauffman directs this with ease, but also the right amount of restraint.
The title of the film is perfect: it's cynical, witty, and pretty much sums up what this film is dealing with. "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" is about the way that having sex without the emotional entanglements is something that will only last a short time. Judging by this idea, as well as the tragic ending, one might come to the conclusion that this kind of living is bad, and that it will only lead to more horrible parts of life. But this story takes another angle, showing that while this kind of being is not eternal, it must be enjoyed while it is happening. Same goes for this film, which, while it lasts, is a spellbinding film that transports us to a whole other dimension of being, is interupted with a couple intrusions of war and other horrors, then gets right back to where it was before. What other film treats sex so profoundly and with such love?
MY RATING (out of 4): ****
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