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Vera Chytilová's classic of surrealist cinema comes to Second Run DVD in an all-new digital transfer with improved picture and sound. A satirical, wild and irreverent story of teenage rebellion. Two young women rebel against a degenerate and oppressive society, attacking symbols of wealth and bourgeois culture. A riotous, punk-rock poem of a film that is both hilarious and mind-warpingly innovative, Daisies was banned in native Czechoslovakia and director Vera Chytilová was forbidden to work until 1975. Special features include; New filmed interview with director Vera Chytilová; Booklet essays; All new director-approved digital transfer from original negative materials with restored picture and sound.
Review
Extremely funny, witty and expertly-fashioned film displays a remarkable control of filmic language, special effects, rhythm and sight gags. --Variety
Freshly humorous and accessible a key film in the Czech New Wave movement... A surrealist comedy way ahead of its time --All Movie Guide
The film is as timelss as it is beautiful. --About World Film
Freshly humorous and accessible a key film in the Czech New Wave movement... A surrealist comedy way ahead of its time --All Movie Guide
The film is as timelss as it is beautiful. --About World Film
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
37 of 39 people found the following review helpful
By J. Pierson
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Czech New Wave bloomed out of nowhere and was brutally suppressed just as suddenly. After Daisies, Chytilova directed a number of films which were duly banned indefinitely before, tragically, kow-towing to her government's ridiculous censors and softening her approach. That she never left her country as many of her contemporaries did (perhaps most famously Milos Foreman) is both inspiring and sad.
Daisies is a mad little film. It's about two young women who take it in turns to go on dates with rich men. The other then invites herself along also and they proceed to wreak cheeky, anarchistic havoc wherever they go. The uninhibited, slap-dash, try-everything invigoration of Chytilova's direction surpasses anything from Godard or Truffaut. I didn't even know there was a Czech New Wave until I found this. It was a wonderful revelation. The film ends with the girls spectacularly trashing a lavish banquet before swinging maniacally from the chandelier. It's allegorical potency need not be specific: I read it as a simple, wonderful freedom. It deserves to become an instigative tag-line:
"Daisies?"
"Daisies." Cue havoc and hilarity.
I don't know anyone else who's seen this. It deserves more attention. I know the French New Wave was hugely significant and seminal (Chytilova was obviously familiar with it) but many other film movements (the Polish New Wave, for example (See Wajda)) seem neglected by the masses. I wonder how this favouriting of the French movement become as total as it did.
Daisies is a mad little film. It's about two young women who take it in turns to go on dates with rich men. The other then invites herself along also and they proceed to wreak cheeky, anarchistic havoc wherever they go. The uninhibited, slap-dash, try-everything invigoration of Chytilova's direction surpasses anything from Godard or Truffaut. I didn't even know there was a Czech New Wave until I found this. It was a wonderful revelation. The film ends with the girls spectacularly trashing a lavish banquet before swinging maniacally from the chandelier. It's allegorical potency need not be specific: I read it as a simple, wonderful freedom. It deserves to become an instigative tag-line:
"Daisies?"
"Daisies." Cue havoc and hilarity.
I don't know anyone else who's seen this. It deserves more attention. I know the French New Wave was hugely significant and seminal (Chytilova was obviously familiar with it) but many other film movements (the Polish New Wave, for example (See Wajda)) seem neglected by the masses. I wonder how this favouriting of the French movement become as total as it did.
27 of 29 people found the following review helpful
By Emma B
Format:DVD
I saw this film on TV when I was about 15 (about 17 yrs ago!) and have been trying to track it down ever since. I didn't know anything about art house films or foreign films back then, but this film totally captivated me. It was so mad, but in a good way because it represented a desire we might all have at times- to have fun and forget rules for a while. It was so refreshing to see women totally free and silly, and literally messing up the order and pomp of the male business world. If you are feeling serious and want to loosen up, this is the film to see. Just wish they would bring out a region 2 version of the film so I could see it again!
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By A. S. Potts
Format:DVD
I disagree with the one star reviewer. That assessment of Chytilova's film-making skills is frankly absurd, so I'm not wasting my time countering those comments.
What is very telling about such a vitriolic attack is the view taken of the two other films that are cited; namely 'Valerie; and her week of wonders' and 'Sweet Movie'. I will comment on those films since so much spite is vented against the supposed weakness of the feminist content in Daisies.
The first is a highly sensual and erotic story of a pubescent girl, some might say titillating, and all drenched in pretty images while the other a visceral naked romp in which the male director finds it necessary, in order to present a 'sophisticated representation of roles' as the review puts it, to strip all the women naked and have them participate in erotic and sexual acts...........
in 'Daisies' however, with a woman directing, the girls are not subject to the male psyche nor a spurious 'sophisticated representation of roles' which requires them to appear naked for our pleasure under the guise of some intellectual pretext. Their self-contained world is not pretty pretty and barely sensual let alone sexual and the characters, through the director, repudiate the predatory male world except on occasions to mercilessly exploit it by having lots of fun.
This certainly makes for a film less appealing to the voyeur but does make for a stunning piece of experimental cinema.
Vera Chytilova just about pulls off one of the most difficult projects in expertly using experimental film making techniques to create a coherent feature length film that is both visually stimulating and entertaining. If that's pretentious, I'm glad.
What is very telling about such a vitriolic attack is the view taken of the two other films that are cited; namely 'Valerie; and her week of wonders' and 'Sweet Movie'. I will comment on those films since so much spite is vented against the supposed weakness of the feminist content in Daisies.
The first is a highly sensual and erotic story of a pubescent girl, some might say titillating, and all drenched in pretty images while the other a visceral naked romp in which the male director finds it necessary, in order to present a 'sophisticated representation of roles' as the review puts it, to strip all the women naked and have them participate in erotic and sexual acts...........
in 'Daisies' however, with a woman directing, the girls are not subject to the male psyche nor a spurious 'sophisticated representation of roles' which requires them to appear naked for our pleasure under the guise of some intellectual pretext. Their self-contained world is not pretty pretty and barely sensual let alone sexual and the characters, through the director, repudiate the predatory male world except on occasions to mercilessly exploit it by having lots of fun.
This certainly makes for a film less appealing to the voyeur but does make for a stunning piece of experimental cinema.
Vera Chytilova just about pulls off one of the most difficult projects in expertly using experimental film making techniques to create a coherent feature length film that is both visually stimulating and entertaining. If that's pretentious, I'm glad.
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3.8 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A masterpiece of creativity
There are 5 ideas/second in this movie. It is so inventive, you need to pause often to observe the composition of the frame, technique. Read more
Published 2 days ago by ann massal
4.0 out of 5 stars
Class Czech film worth owning.
Nice set of this classic quirky film from the sixties. If one doesn't already own the Eclipse set that contains this then this is a worthwhile alternative.
Published 5 months ago by Douglas A. Roy
5.0 out of 5 stars
Swinging Czechoslovakia!
I first caught a snippet of this overlooked gem on BBC2 around 20 years ago and it's been conspicuous by its absence from the schedules ever since. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Johnny M
5.0 out of 5 stars
Naughty, naughty!
Daisies by Chytilová
V'ra Chytilová, like French Agnès Varda, is one of the still universally rare female Czech film directors, especially in the... Read more
V'ra Chytilová, like French Agnès Varda, is one of the still universally rare female Czech film directors, especially in the... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Dr René Codoni
4.0 out of 5 stars
Famous surreal film from Czechoslovakia is a bit overrated but...
Director Vera Chytilova's anarchic feminist film from the mid 1960s (right before the Czech new wave movement was broken by the Soviet Invasion that ended the Prague Spring) is... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Andres C. Salama
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best examples of the Czech New Wave
For anyone interested in Czech film, this is a must. Its great to see difficult films to find being printed by Second Run DVD. Bit of a Marmite film but I definitely loved it.
Published on 14 Jan 2011 by Caleb
1.0 out of 5 stars
Tedious, Pretentious and Over Rated
The scene with the two girls at the start of Daisies looks like something drama students at a sixth form college would cobble together. Read more
Published on 21 Nov 2009 by Double Helix
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