Unbearable lightness

As is probably known to many The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a fantastic book written by Milan Kundera. In the midst of mainly three-four main characters it explores the relationship between weight and lightness in all aspects of life. It is simply a wonderful piece of art. It is such beautifully and philosophically written that upon reading it I had to underline several, several paragraphs which I proceeded to write down in my Moleskin. I can with a light heart recommend this book to every living soul.

In 1988 the book was made into a film by director Philip Kaufman. In it we have Daniel Day-Lewis as Tomas, Juliette Binoche as Tereza and Lena Olin as Sabina. The film is a wonderful adaption of the book, though - as is always with film adaptions - there were many moments and thoughts from the book missing in the film. With this particular film I understand the difficulty though. The book is filled with extended trains of thoughts and small notions that in any case are almost impossible to visually translate, and in the context of a film they aren't as essential as in the book.

The film is a beautiful translation of the book with an abundance of what I would consider to be some of the greatest actors and actresses of our time. The imagery is simple and natural, but at the same time very stunning. In fact so much that I had saved over sixty screen caps that I wanted to post here. I began writing this post with the intention of posting all those screen caps, but it became impossible in the end. Instead I decided to focus on the relationship of Tomas and Tereza, which does not show the whole essence of the film, but is nevertheless a very important and central element. Enjoy.