Film history classes may pound the French New Wave into the heads of cinema students everywhere, but not much is said about the Czech New Wave. Unsurprisingly, this movement was in direct response to the French version and was an attempt to showcase the filmmaking talents emerging in Eastern Europe. These films were made in the 1960s and featured nonprofessional actors, long dialogue, and dark humor.
One of the integral figures in this movement was director Věra Chytilová, whose 1966 film, Daisies, put her on the map as a daring feminist filmmaker. As described by Criterion, “No director pushed the boundaries of the Czechoslovak New Wave further than Věra Chytilová.” Her work pulsates with anarchic energy, each frame saying something new and explosive. While not all of her work is as overtly political as Daisies, each of her films makes a political statement about women, the Soviet Union, economics, socialism, and more.
In her most well-known, and controversial, film, Daisies, Chytilová spits in the face of societal expectations and manners, letting her female characters consume, laugh, yell, and be spoiled. Daisies’ narrative is straightforward enough: it follows two women, both named Marie, who wish to be spoiled. They think the world is ruined, so why can’t they be, too?
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They eat, laugh, eat some more, and take advantage of older men, all in the name of hilarious destruction. This film is a destructive Bacchanalian feast where the Maries devour desserts, fruits, wine, beer, while laughing at their older financiers. They go through men like tissues, using them to wipe their faces, then throwing them onto trains that whisk the men away.
It is a film bursting with chaotic energy. The camerawork and editing is an assault on the senses, never letting the spectator rest. Colors are always shifting, moving from black and white, to full color, to reds, blues, and oranges. There is no narrative explanation for such radical shifts, only that Chytilová doesn’t want the spectator to comfortably view the narrative; this is a film for thinking and understanding, not idly consuming.
It is also an absurdly hilarious film. As a man confesses his love for Marie, they cut up phallic foods, such as sausages and pickles, with scissors and eat them. They make a crude charcuterie platter as they listen to a man bear his heart over the phone, negating any aspect of romance and really just mocking the man on the other line.
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What’s important about Daisies is that it portrays women being unabashedly disgusting. The Maries squish food between their fingers, shove cakes into their mouths, pour liquids all over their faces, and let food decay in their bed. They both may look like the image of femininity — dresses, exaggerated eyeliner, styled hair — but their actions negate this presentation.
Daisies rejects societal expectations. It is a film that displays the experimental and rebellious spirit of Chytilová, who didn’t care about censors. Instead, she wanted to push the boundaries of cinema and show the world the power of Czech filmmaking.
