| Daisies | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Věra Chytilová |
| Produced by | Rudolf Hájek |
| Written by | Věra Chytilová |
| Starring | Ivana Karbanová Jitka Cerhová Marie Češková Jiřina Myšková Marcela Březinová Julius Albert |
| Music by | Jiří Šlitr Jiří Šust |
| Cinematography | Jaroslav Kučera |
| Editing by | Miroslav Hájek |
| Distributed by | Asociace Českých Filmových Klubů |
| Release date(s) |
December 30, 1966 (Czech release) |
| Running time | 74 min |
| Language | Czech |
Daisies (Czech: Sedmikrásky) 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.
The opening sequence is that of a spinning flywheel 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.
Though made available in some VHS 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.