I, too, like THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING, but I have to admit I’m a bigger fan of THE RIGHT STUFF.
Ooh boy, Christopher – but no Juliette, no Lena…I must see it again, however. It was just on TV, but I didn’t catch it. I will the next time, as I recall it seemed to be really well made, too. Thanks
I’ll never forget seeing his Invasion of the Body Snatchers as a teenager during it’s initial theatrical release. What a great film—and what an ending! The original version is great, but Kaufman managed to pay it complete respect while both updating and surpassing it. What a feat. I wish there were more re-makes one could say that about.
Whichever film one calls the best is immaterial to me; what does matter is that he’s a genuine talent, and it’s a real shame that he hasn’t been able to do more.
I have a real soft spot in my heart for The Wanderers and it seems to be a forgotten or rarely viewed film.
I wouldn’t say he’s ever made a good film, much less a “perfect” one. BODY SNATCHERS, RIGHT STUFF, UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS, all over-reaching and dull.
The Right Stuff is the greatest film in the Kaufman filmography!
A real poem!
What about Henry and June, what a great film. So hypnotic and soothingly erotic, and the cast is just the best. Such a relief to see Uma Thurman acting for a change.
Tom, everyone on this site is entitled to their opinion—and the directors you’ve listed as your personal faves are nearly all unimpeachable, (sorry, but while I’m a fan myself, many people are on the fence as to J. Tati nowadays—and after 40 mins of Hulot gags, he can get pretty dull himself).
I think you’re a bit harsher on Kaufman than his filmography would merit; all three of the films you’ve listed are excellent, if shy of perfect. If you feel otherwise, please inform those of us here so benighted where we should look to find the holes in his work. Acting, narrative, pacing and composition are all top rate, so far as I can tell. (The great Caleb Deschanell at the cams and lighting for The Right Stuff—and put to excellent use.) Likewise, his sensitivity to source literary material is far above the norm—by the standards of any film-producing nation, let alone Hollywood. So lighten up on the guy.
Or, I’m afraid for your sake you may receive a visit from tonight from the ghost of Jacob Marley. (Oh! If Alastair Sim is with him, PLEASE tell him I say hello. And not to wait for me.)Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Anyday, anytime.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Anyday, anytime.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Anyday, anytime.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Anyday, anytime.
Well, I’m the type of guy who likes to roam around . . . I also have a soft spot for The Wanderers. The Fordham Baldies, the Ducky Boys, good call Mark Thimijan. Nobody fucks with the Wongs!!!
I loved ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being". I remember when this movie came out on VHS and I was too young to appreciate it. My older brother and my aunt had both read the book, and rented the film to watch with my mother and grandmother. At some point, my brother referred to the Lena Olin character as “…his plastic fuck doll.” and I’ll never forget it. I had to watch it again years later to fully appreciate it, but not so for ‘The Right Stuff’ I loved it when I was 10 and I love it still. Henry and June was another milestone in my appreciation of film, and not just because it was the first NC-17 rated film either. I snuck into that film when I was 15, and it introduced me to Henry Miller.
I really enjoyed Quills too.
I’ve never seen his version of "Body Snatchers’, though perhaps I should. It seems J.R. really liked it!
I read Unbearbale Lightness of Being and I also agree that it is Kaufman’s best film to date.
The book is among my favorites.
Yes, I would say ‘Unbearable’ is Kaufman’s best film but I haven’t seen any of his others (although I definitely plan to).
It’s such well-directed film in terms of controlling the right conditions for the film to sort of take a path of its own – what I mean to say is that Kaufman is particularly skilled in measuring tone and breaking down certain scenes so that they possess a sort of raw, unrestricted quality, or as you said Stutsman, not “artificial”
I actually went to the theatre 4 times during the time period it was released in 1988. This is a great film. I remember how angry I was when the Motion Picture Acadummy ignored it that year. Rainman?…gimmie a break. It has been a while since I have watched it, but discussion today of it has generated interest in watching it again soon and re-read the book.
I’ll admit I’m a bit indifferent to Kaufman. I enjoy THE RIGHT STUFF, but it has never stood out to me as anything terribly speical. THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING is very good, but what I like about it I’m pretty sure isn’t the direct result of Kaufman (first and foremost the performances which, though I"m sure he had a hand in shaping, belong solely to Lewis, Olin, and Binoche) as well as Murch’s editing and Nykvist’s editing (between this and THE RIGHT STUFF, Kaufman seems more like a great impresario director as opposed to the popular image of the hands-on auteur).
My real complaint is that he hasn’t made more movies, 14 over the last 45 years (I have this same complaint about Kubrick). I’ll think more about why, but with film directing, volume seems to be a sort of virtue, probably the in the same way that sketching every day is good for a painter. Though many of the films made won’t turn out to be great, those that are are incredible (just look at Woody Allen, John Ford, all the old greats).
My apologies to any Philip Kaufman fanboys.
He jumped the shark after “Rising Sun”.
The Right Stuff. No more need be said.
Kaufman’s literary adaptations have there pleasures, and I remember liking Unbearable Lightness a lot. But I can understand why it upset Kundera so.
Matt Parks:
I remember Kaufman saying in a dvd extra that Kundera was very pleased with the film.
Bob Stutsman
I posted this earlier to the ‘perfect film’ thread. If you have read it there or hate mini-essays please skip, but do let me know what you think of the movie. I am trying to get the attention of those of you who might have missed this great Criterion release:
What I like about this site, is the ability to post a mini-essay, instead of a few words. Here is mine relative to a movie I have sung the praises of briefly earlier in this thread:
Unbearable Lightness of Being – a Casablanca for a more troubled time:
Philip Kaufman’s 1988 film Unbearable Lightness of Being would be my candidate for a ‘perfect’ film. It combines all the elements needed for an artistically and personally satisfying work of art. It has a highly literate script by the amazing Jean-Claude Carriere. Carriere has one of the most impressive of screen-writing resumes: working with the likes of directors such as Bunuel, Oshima, Forman, Peter Brook, and Schloendorff. He molds the ingeniously crafted story, from Milan Kundera’s novel of the same title, into a dense, carefully constructed script where the words never get in the way of the action, but propel the action. Sven Nykvist, one of the greatest of all cinematographers, the man who truly created the “look” of Bergman’s films, fills the movie with scene after scene of breathtaking visual beauty. The lead three actors – Daniel Day Lewis as the brain surgeon, Tomas; Lena Olin as his artist lover, Sabina; and the then newly minted talent of Juliette Binoche as his other love interest, Tereza – are perfect in their respective roles. None of them perform at any time in a stagey, contrived, or forced manner. All the acting is natural and consistent with the director’s vision. Even the smaller roles are carefully chosen, such as Kaufman’s choice of the great Czech character actor Pavel Landowsky as a patient of Tomas named Pavel. We even have the luxury of a Bergman stalwart, Erland Josephson, as the ambassador. Most of the music is taken from Janacek, surely that most emotive of all Czech composers. The music always adds to the scene, by establishing almost a chamber music atmosphere to the series of intimate scenes of love and love-making involving the leads.
The film, then, has all the key ingredients to make a ‘perfect film’: an interesting storyline, excellent script, good acting, music that adds, and great cinematography. Yet, this could still not all gel effectively were it not for Kaufman’s careful and luminous directing. His directing style allows the actors to develop into their characters and the story he is telling in the most natural of ways. What a story it is, and it allows his creative juices to flow. Kaufman, a detailed craftsman technically – all of his movies ‘look good’ – got it all right in this picture. The Right Stuff, about the original Apollo astronauts, has that same technically flawless look, like the well-made films of Kubrick or Spielberg, but it doesn’t move me in the same way. Likewise, his later Henry and June, although he is working with excellent actors (Uma Thurman and Fred Ward), I could not relate to the characters in as believable a way.
It is the authenticity of the characters, their believability and vulnerability, that comes across in every scene. Kundera is dealing with a story (told obliquely with his usual aphoristic flow in the novel) of a man, Tomas, who is involved in an erotic relationship with the artistic free-spirit, Sabina. They have an open relationship, where other lovers come and go. All is well, until Tomas meets a rather naive waitress, Tereza, who promptly falls in love with him. Tereza’s infatuation with Tomas, turns the relationship into a fragile menage a trois. This is reminiscent of the similar love triangle in Casablanca, except there we have two men (Rick and Victor) in love with one woman (Ilsa). The emotional complications and intrigues that ensue are at the heart of the story of both the novel and the film.
However, another layer is added to all this by the political turmoil before, during and after the Prague Spring, that ends in the brutal invasion by the Soviet military in 1968. Here, the story takes a deeper and more sinister tone, as a rather playful article published carelessly by Tomas comes back to haunt him in the political oppression of the time. The emotional fragility of the characters is the background for the political tensions surrounding the tanks rolling into Prague. The surprise arrival of the tanks is captured with great subtlety as the tinkling of glasses on a tray, emphasizing the fragility and vulnerability of the characters lives at this dramatic turn of it events. This again connects it to Casablanca where the fate of the three central characters is set against the backdrop of the Second World War. Both films accentuate the lack of any kind of real connection of the ‘mundane’ personal problems of anyone to the sweeping changes of major events (“The problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.” Rick). Kaufman brilliantly interweaves real footage of the actual event of the tanks arrival and the subsequent mobs of protestors, with his actors juxtaposed into the actions appearing to us as if they were really there. All this is done seamlessly, making the characters we have gotten to know and love, small figures in the seething background.
What works best in the film, are the many small, intimate scenes that border the main political action. Kaufman is very good at creating mood and tension in all his scenes involving Tomas, Sabrina, and Tereza. Action and acting never seem forced or artificial. The emotional tension is etched on the faces of the characters. Dialogue is never intrusive or forced. We understand by watching, by seeing their faces in sharp focus, how this emotionally honest story of the pain and conflict of love and jealousy unfold. The Janacek set pieces emphasize the atmosphere of eros and agape. The developing, conflicting love story is revealed by the montage of cinematic images, much like the pictures that are taken by Sabrina and Tereza reveal something of their inner reality. We feel the characters emotions by careful, almost clinical, observation. Scenes of a real clinic, Tomas is a surgeon after all, alternate as almost a way of heightening this observation. The scenes are alternately playful and sullen; thoughtful and ironic; darkness and the ‘unbearable’ lightness.
To me, the scene that best encapsulates the true magic of this picture is the erotically charged scene where first we see Tereza taking pictures of Sabrina nude and then Sabrina turns the tables on Tereza and takes hers. Kaufman establishes, with minimal intrusion, the interplay of complex emotions between these two characters – who both love the same man. The scene is shot on a dreamy, rainy afternoon in Geneva. The Janacek score, taken from his sonata for violin and piano, fits the scene perfectly. In lesser hands, this could disintegrate into a kind of artful soft-porn, soft-focus scene. Kaufman turns up the emotive heat and elevates it to art, albeit erotic art – these are two beautiful women – by careful placement of the camera. We are voyeurs – as much because the emotional strain of the two characters is captured so well on their faces, as by the act of viewing their bare bodies. Here, the person holding the camera is in control, the figure of power, much like the director and cinematographer hold power, through the placement of visual image, over the actors. Everything we need to know about the feelings and thoughts of Tereza and Sabina, the combination of jealousy, respect, possible friendship, and creative exploration, are played out vividly in this one scene. Most of the scene is done in an intense silence, punctured only by the rather haunting, somewhat discordant strains of the violin and piano, and the rain running down the window panes.
As the film draws to an end, the relationship of Tomas and Tereza seems to be reaching a kind of peaceful, blissful accord, with them riding a truck down a country road, ending in a fade into the bright light. However, this is the ‘unbearable’ lightness that is at the core of this film. The ultimate fate of the two is revealed only afterwards, as an anticlimax. (For those who have yet to experience the film, it will not be revealed here). This is no Hollywood-style, or forced, happy ending. The movie takes us on an insightful, emotional roller-coaster, but gives us no easy answers or conclusions. Everything is as open-ended as a page of Milan Kundera’s own dense and philosophical novel.
It is a film that celebrates love, art, and commitment with a power like no other of its period. Tomas and Tereza are the Rick and Ilsa of a more troubling and complex time. See and experience this delightful Criterion film!
-dedicated to Tom Samp – a fellow lover of Unbearable