[Quick Summary: On the 1968 eve of the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia, a serial bed-hopping surgeon meets a woman who wants monogamy.]
Q: Is there a lot of sex in this script?
A: Yes (and nudity too*).
Q: Is it gratuitous?
A: No, because the main character, Tomas, focuses a lot on it. But when it debuted for its sexuality and
sensuality.
Q: But if that was all, why does the film still resonate with audiences?
A: I think Roger Ebert said it best:
What is remarkable about "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," however, is not the sexual content itself, but the way [director Phillip] Kaufman has been able to use it as an avenue for a complex story, one of nostalgia, loss, idealism and romance.
Q: How? What's so great that this script got an Oscar nomination?
A: I think it's the way the story unfolds and how Tomas arcs. Ebert made very astute observation about where Tomas begins:
Tomas then learns that freedom from any commitment (that "lightness of being") becomes unbearable.
Q: What surprised you about the script?
A: I'd heard a lot about the writer (the often cited Jean-Claude Carriere), but little about what
makes his writing so special. I came to see:
1) He writes longing really well. I felt it build through the script.
2) This script surprised me at how deftly Carrier gets to the heart of the matter. There's a direct simplicity that is deceiving because it's really difficult to write well.
In the scene below:
- This is a very early scene (p. 2), in the hospital operating suite.
- Dr. Tomas has just gotten his latest fling (Nurse) to flash him in another room, while his colleagues have been eavesdropping on them.
- Notice how each of the characters voices the various opinions about sex (spoken), and how they think it will satisfy (ex. unspoken need for attention, status, etc.)
IN PREPARATION ROOM. Nurse's face is flushed as she buttons her robe and silently brushes past Tomas. Their cheeks touching.
IN PREPARATION ROOM. Nurse's face is flushed as she buttons her robe and silently brushes past Tomas. Their cheeks touching.
NURSE: Will I see you in three weeks?
TOMAS: Exactly three weeks.
ADJOINING ROOM. She exits. Tomas goes into adjoining room and sees JAN and JIRI have been eavesdropping on him.
JAN: Tomas, I caught him spying again.
JIRI: Not spying, just learning. I want to know how you do it, you bastard. She's incredible. How can you not see her for three weeks?
Tomas and Jan being to have some fun with Jiri.
TOMAS: Because it's the rule of threes, Jiri.
JIRI (he wants to know - a pupil): What rule of threes?
Tomas acts like he doesn't want to explain, so Jan volunteers.
JAN: It's simple, Jiri. But it must be very carefully worked out. Either you see a woman three times in quick succession and then never again, or you maintain a relationship over the years but make sure that the meetings are at least three weeks apart.
JIRI: And what else?
TOMAS: Nothing else. That's the basis of the erotic contract.
JIRI: A contract?
TOMAS: Yes. An unwritten contract that stipulates that sentimentality has no place in a relationship.
JIRI: But what about love?
JAN: The contract stipulates that you exclude all love...
WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Sex is a metaphor for Tomas' life: It's his way, all the time. However, his shift from "I" to "we" did not happen as I expected it to.
It's hard to explain, but it's truly moving how his imperfections become exposed upon meeting Tereza and facing war, and the longing becomes contentment.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)(revised draft, 9/4/86)
by Jean Claude Carriere and Philip Kaufman
Based on the novel by Milan Kundera
* In Roger Ebert's review, he wrote:
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