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The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
5 February 1988 (USA) moreTagline:
A Lovers Story.Plot:
In 1968, a Czech doctor with an active sex life meets a woman who wants monogamy, and then the Soviet invasion further disrupts their lives. full summary | add synopsisAwards:
Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 5 nominations moreNewsDesk:
(3 articles)
Motion/Captured Must-See: 'The Unbearable Lightness Of Being' (From Hitfix. 26 May 2009, 4:00 AM, PDT)
Legendary Cinematographer Nykvist Dead at 83
(From Studio Briefing - Film News. 21 September 2006)
User Comments:
Unbearably Beautiful - one of the best films ever made more (108 total)Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Daniel Day-Lewis | ... | Tomas | |
| Juliette Binoche | ... | Tereza | |
| Lena Olin | ... | Sabina | |
| Derek de Lint | ... | Franz | |
| Erland Josephson | ... | The Ambassador | |
| Pavel Landovský | ... | Pavel | |
| Donald Moffat | ... | Chief Surgeon | |
| Daniel Olbrychski | ... | Interior Ministry Official | |
| Stellan Skarsgård | ... | The Engineer | |
| Tomasz Borkowy | ... | Jiri (as Tomek Bork) | |
| Bruce Myers | ... | Czech Editor | |
| Pavel Slaby | ... | Pavel's Nephew | |
| Pascale Kalensky | ... | Nurse Katja | |
| Jacques Ciron | ... | Swiss Restaurant Manager | |
| Anne Lonnberg | ... | Swiss Photographer |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
171 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
Color (Technicolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 moreSound Mix:
StereoCertification:
Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) (re-rating) (2005) | Canada:PG (Ontario) (re-rating) (2005) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) (original rating) | Canada:R (Manitoba) (2005) | Iceland:14 | Argentina:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Hong Kong:III | Singapore:R21 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Several Czechs were in consideration to be involved in this film, including director Milos Forman, but very few ultimately ended up working on the film. Allegedly, protecting relatives still in Czechoslovakia from reprisals from the Communist regime was a primary reason. moreGoofs:
Continuity: When we first see Tereza taking photographs in Prague she is shown wearing her wedding ring, yet she and Tomas are not married at this point in the story. moreQuotes:
[first lines]First Title Card: In Prague, in 1968, there lived a young doctor named Tomas...
Tomas: Take off your clothes.
[line recurs several times during film]
more
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One of the most romantic films ever made, it shows the problems of people whose intimacies and personal conflicts are being interrupted by history on the move. I think this film surpasses the novel, which is utterly cynical (although understandably). Even in the last moments of the novel, Teresa is concerned that Tomas is cheating on her. The film also does well by dropping much of Franz's character - he was kind of uninteresting compared to Teresa, Tomas, and Sabina. It also drops such deadweight characters as Teresa's mother, Tomas' son, and Franz's wife. Also, a ton of different coworkers are combined into a few, so that their characters have time to develop. By concentrating on the three central characters, this film blossoms past what the novel ever achieved (although the novel is arguably more historically important). Philip Kaufman and Jean-Claude Carriere also add a couple of beautiful scenes that weren't in the novel, including Tomas' and Teresa's wedding, which is one of the most beautiful scenes in filmdom.