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Daisies (film)
Encyclopedia
Daisies is a 1966 Czech film directed by Věra Chytilová
considered a milestone of the Nová Vlna
movement and the modern surrealist cinema.
Made with the support of the state-sponsored film studio, it follows two teenage girls, both named Marie, played by Ivana Karbanová and Jitka Cerhová; throughout the film they engage in strange pranks as acts of rebellion against the world in which they live.
Innovatively filmed, and released a couple of years before the Prague Spring
, Daisies was labeled as "depicting the wanton" by the Czech authorities and then banned. Director Chytilová was forbidden to work in homeland until 1975.
with shots of aeroplanes strafing the ground. The shots of the aeroplanes are most likely from World War II
.
The first scene shows the two main characters sitting in bathing suits. Their conversation is robotic and from that point on they decide to be bad. The next scene shows Marie I and Marie II dancing in front of a tree. The tree has many fruits and resembles the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
. Once Marie I eats from the tree, they both fall and appear in their apartment. There is significant action here, with Marie I looking through the window at a parade and Marie II eating. The next few scenes are all similar. They show the two girls on a date with an older man, a 'sugar daddy
'. Marie II eats voraciously and Marie I eventually starts acting like her, eating a lot of food.
They eventually go to a night-club, and they outperform the 1920s style dancers. They also cause a ruckus with the waiters. Marie II also goes to the apartment of a man who is a butterfly collector. In this scene, there are a lot of butterflies shown as still frames. At the end, she says that she wants to eat. Later on, they go to a factory. There are still frames of locks, and the building looks run down. They look for "nourishment" and stumble upon a feast presumably set out for communist leaders. They eat the food, make a mess and destroy the room. It then cuts to them being dunked in water like witches. They decide to go back and make everything right again, and at the end a giant chandelier crushes them.
and DVD
editions through the times, a new and restored DVD reissue was finally published in 2009, featuring a director-approved version with improved English subtitles and other special features.
Vera Chytilová
Věra Chytilová is an avant-garde Czech film director and pioneer of Czech cinema. Banned by the Czechoslovakian government in the 1960s, she is best known for her Czech New Wave film, Sedmikrásky...
considered a milestone of the Nová Vlna
Czechoslovak New Wave
The Czechoslovak New Wave is a term used for the early films of 1960s Czech directors Miloš Forman, Věra Chytilová, Ivan Passer, Jaroslav Papoušek, Jiří Menzel, Jan Němec, Jaromil Jireš, Vojtěch Jasný, Evald Schorm and Slovak directors Juraj Herz, Juraj Jakubisko, Štefan Uher, Ján Kádár, Elo...
movement and the modern surrealist cinema.
Made with the support of the state-sponsored film studio, it follows two teenage girls, both named Marie, played by Ivana Karbanová and Jitka Cerhová; throughout the film they engage in strange pranks as acts of rebellion against the world in which they live.
Innovatively filmed, and released a couple of years before the Prague Spring
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...
, Daisies was labeled as "depicting the wanton" by the Czech authorities and then banned. Director Chytilová was forbidden to work in homeland until 1975.
Plot summary
The opening sequence is that of a spinning flywheelFlywheel
A flywheel is a rotating mechanical device that is used to store rotational energy. Flywheels have a significant moment of inertia, and thus resist changes in rotational speed. The amount of energy stored in a flywheel is proportional to the square of its rotational speed...
with shots of aeroplanes strafing the ground. The shots of the aeroplanes are most likely from World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
The first scene shows the two main characters sitting in bathing suits. Their conversation is robotic and from that point on they decide to be bad. The next scene shows Marie I and Marie II dancing in front of a tree. The tree has many fruits and resembles the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
In the Book of Genesis, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or the tree of knowledge was a tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden. . God directly forbade Adam to eat the fruit of this tree...
. Once Marie I eats from the tree, they both fall and appear in their apartment. There is significant action here, with Marie I looking through the window at a parade and Marie II eating. The next few scenes are all similar. They show the two girls on a date with an older man, a 'sugar daddy
Sugar Daddy
"Sugar Daddy" is a hit single for Motown quintet The Jackson 5 in late 1971.The song, which peaked at #3 on the R&B singles chart and #10 on the pop singles chart in the beginning of 1972, was one of the Jackson 5 hits produced by The Corporation: Berry Gordy, Freddie Perren, Alphonzo Mizell, and...
'. Marie II eats voraciously and Marie I eventually starts acting like her, eating a lot of food.
They eventually go to a night-club, and they outperform the 1920s style dancers. They also cause a ruckus with the waiters. Marie II also goes to the apartment of a man who is a butterfly collector. In this scene, there are a lot of butterflies shown as still frames. At the end, she says that she wants to eat. Later on, they go to a factory. There are still frames of locks, and the building looks run down. They look for "nourishment" and stumble upon a feast presumably set out for communist leaders. They eat the food, make a mess and destroy the room. It then cuts to them being dunked in water like witches. They decide to go back and make everything right again, and at the end a giant chandelier crushes them.
Editions
Though made available in some VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
editions through the times, a new and restored DVD reissue was finally published in 2009, featuring a director-approved version with improved English subtitles and other special features.