“The Unbearable Lightness of Being” Movie Review

The main aim of the assignment is to discuss the film “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” and to make an analysis of its main characters as well as their relations and the way of communication.

Love is the broadest topic of art, but only some films can show it in the way that it touches human souls and hearts. The film “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” shows not events but it depicts human feelings, and all the surrounding reality is the frame for people’s actions, thoughts and deeds. According to the producer’s idea, human being is full of the unbearable lightness because every person has only one chance to live and it means that every life includes in itself a mysterious accident, as well as every action can not completely  predetermine our future. Moreover, film shows that human choice is not burdened with the consequences, and therefore, it is not important. At the same time, our actions become unbearable, if we think about the consequences all the time. So, life can be described as “the unbearable lightness of being”.

Considering Tomas, Teresa and Sabina it can be said that they are truly believable characters because actors played their roles in a very good way. Being more specific, it becomes obvious that Tomas is a flat character because Tomas’ character does not fundamentally change over the course of the film, while Teresa and Sabina are round characters. For instance, Tomas, belonging to the Czech intellectual class, and being an intellectual and a thinker, is described as a person who is pragmatic in his deeds and his life experience makes him an individual without strong preferences and positions. On the one hand, his colleagues considers him a kind of dissident, while dissidents do not respect him as their member and considers him to be a coward. On the other hand, Sabina calls Tomas the “complete opposite of kitsch” because his position runs counter to the perfect and shiny ideals of love and politics.

Thinking about Teresa, it can be said that the character of the woman is described as a big trusting child. Moreover, such features as nervous concentration of the soul and constant necessity of love are skillfully presented in Teresa. This woman is like the ocean, mysterious and exciting ocean that is almost never breaks out. The ocean is a secret only for Teresa and Tomas, while these moments make communication with her charming and interesting.

Sabina’s character includes in itself two main ideas to discuss, they are kitsch and betrayal; or it can be also said that betrayal is Sabina’s way of fighting kitsch and changing people and situations. Sabina believes that betrayal may help individuals to fight against the conformity that is imposed by totalitarian kitsch. Sabina has a strong and easy character and her love affair with Tomas is based on their mutual lightness.

Tomas, Teresa and Sabina are not sympathetic characters and they have some redeeming characteristics, and there exist many reasons to explain the fact. For instance, Teresa is described as a big child who would be more organic in the role of the girl playing with dolls than waiting Tomas after his meetings with Sabina. Tomas, in his turn, is a person without a strong life position and Sabina becomes a part of his life without any kind of regret. Sabina is shown as erotic and free woman but her full liberation of moral is not generally accepted in human society and she has opposite to Teresa characteristics.

In the sphere of relations, Teresa and Tomas are interesting in demonstrations of their feelings and thoughts. Love, emotions and feelings of the heroes of the film are reflected in the country’s problems, in the people’s troubles of the world’s chaos. So, the country’s history goes ahead of the story, and it is not just the background of people’s lives, but it changes their fates.

The film has a good built storyline related to the socio-political conflict, and inserted documentary footage creates atmospheric vision and animates situation. The mood of confusion and despair allows to understand the characters better, and the harsh realities of the country appear in all their intransigence. The producer’s aspiration to entertainment does not distort in this case, it only makes the film deep and emotional.

Unfortunately, the conflict of love is not as bright as it can be, and it is indicated by dotted line because many psychological factors that play an important role in the novel have been omitted in the film. As a result, there is only a skeleton of the story, which emphasized primarily sexual relationship between heroes, and many thoughts and feelings just were not implemented in their full degree. The characters are silent in many situations and only watching after their faces and deeds the audience can suppose one or other thoughts in their heads.

In addition, lightness of being is a way of life for Tomas but not for Teresa because such frivolity is unbearable for Teresa and makes her suffer. These two persons are different by their life positions, but they stayed together. This is a novel with no beginning and end because none of them changed the other. Their story will be repeated for many times and go in a circle. There will always be Sabina, who is a mysterious woman seeking happiness with the first counter or tied to a single person on the eyelids. Teresa will also be in a never-ending search for happiness and peace because the temporary relations are unbearable for her. She is looking for support and rest. Tomas will be so easy to sail on the waves of the events of his life. The accent is on the events because Tomas’ durable peace and affection can exist only until the next meeting, which will entice him away again and again. He lives from meeting to meeting. There are some people that nothing can change them and others have to put up with this lightness of being.

Analyzing the portrayal of sexuality in the film, it can be said that the film demonstrates many scenes of provocative eroticism, and its presence is simply not justified. It goes without saying that the author of the book is also quite frank, but everything described in the book looks quite harmoniously and serves as a good characteristic of characters and their emotional conditions. In the film this method does not work, because of this some scenes in the film seems to be rather erotic and even pornographic. It is hard to say something against theу producer’s vision because there as many opinions as there are many commentators but analyzing the story the audience may see that only few scenes are necessary in telling the story while others are not justified.

In my opinion, the most appealing character is Sabina because she is sincere and open in her deeds and relations. She is a kind of eternal lover and traveler, who runs away from affections for people and betrays any long contacts. Sabina’s character is an embodiment of lightness and these features make people to be interested in her life position and attitude to surrounding society.

In conclusion, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” is an age-old history of relations which could happen anywhere, in any country, in any era. The film shows human relations on the background of the war, and proves that people can escape from the city, country but never from the own personality.

 

Work Cited

Kaufman, P. The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The Saul Zaentz Company, 1988.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
Available at:

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]
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