The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)

Co-writer/director Philip Kaufman's erotic epic, adapted and based upon Czech novelist Milan Kundera's novel, centered on the themes of passion, love and freedom (sexual, personal and political). It was set in the late 60s in Prague, Czechoslovakia (and then in Switzerland) during the time of the Russian tank invasion and take-over of the city (the Prague Spring). It was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography (Sven Nykvist). On an overblown budget of approximately $18 million, the film failed spectacularly, and made only $10 million (worldwide).

The romantic drama (171 minutes in length) told about a complex love triangle between a libertine, suave and playboyish Czech doctor and his two lovers (reversals of each other) - his naive country-bred wife, and his free-spirited mistress/painter. During the film, the male lover repeatedly and arrogantly entreated: "Take off your clothes." It featured open and liberated adult sexuality and many erotic scenes although little explicit sex (it was regarded by Rolling Stone as "the most openly sexual American film in ages"). Its tagline was simply: "A Lovers Story."

• in the film's opening set in 1968 in the city of Prague in the Central European country of Czechoslovakia, a title card introduced the main protagonist: "In Prague, in 1968, there lived a young doctor named Tomas..."; the Czech 'Don-Juanish' neuro-surgeon Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis) seductively stated the phrase: "Take off your clothes" to co-worker Nurse Katja (Pascale Kalensky) in a hospital locker room; she complained that he had already seen everything the previous night
• the next title card: "But the woman who understood him best was Sabina..."
• in an extended love-making scene, philandering Tomas was also with his longtime sex partner and kindred liberated lover and free spirit Sabina (Lena Olin) - ("the woman who understood him best") - a carefree painter-artist who simply enjoyed the pleasures of sex; she asked him: "Don't you ever spend a night at the woman's place?" He answered: "Never"; she confided in him: "I really like you, Tomas. You are the complete opposite of kitsch. In the kingdom of kitsch, you would be a monster," as she placed her great grandfather's bowler hat on his head
• Tomas responded by turning Sabina around on top of the bed so that her head hung off the side, while coupling with her legs completely spread-eagled and pointed outwards; he made her view themselves in that pose in her dressing-mirror reflection across the room, and then asked: "What am I now? A monster"

Tomas With Free-Spirited Sex Partner Sabina (Lena Olin)

• the next title card described: "Tomas was sent to a spa town to perform an operation...", as the titles began to appear; in the provincial village where Tomas was called to perform a brain operation, he met his future wife Tereza (Juliette Binoche, in her English-language film debut) who dove into the resort-spa's swimming pool in a black one-piece bathing suit, splashing a floating game of chess by a group of elderly men; he followed her to the resort's connected provincial bar-restaurant where she worked a shift as a waitress; after he charged his cognac drink order to his room (Room # 6) - a significant fact for later, she regarded it coincidental that her shift ended at that time
• although he claimed he was due back in Prague at 6 pm, he remained in town and met up briefly with Tereza after her work day on a nearby park bench, where she told him that she sat every day; she was reading Tolstoy's Anna Karenina; after a brief conversation, he didn't pursue seduction after learning that she lived with her mother; he told her: "Maybe I'll come back sometime"; he learned she was hungry for discussions on literature and other stimulating topics
• after returning to Prague, Tomas and Sabina continued to playfully make love with the bowler hat and their mirror images, when they conversed together: (Sabina: "Are you only searching for pleasure, or is every woman a new land whose secrets you want to discover? You want to know what she's going to say when she makes love? Or how she will smile? How she will whisper, groan, scream?" Tomas: "Maybe the very smallest, unimaginable details. Tiny things that make one woman totally unlike any other." Sabina: "What's my detail, Doctor?" Tomas: "Your hat, Sabina"); he encouraged her to view herself with her distinctive bowler hat, reflected in the round mirror placed flat onto the floor, before they succumbed to more love-making

Further Sex Talk and Play Between Tomas and Sabina With a Mirror

• soon after, Tereza surprised Tomas by appearing at his door; she had moved from her small town to Prague to find a new job, see friends, and to be with Tomas - to become one of his lovers, complicating matters for him further due to his many dalliances; on her first night in Prague, he had her undress with his typical come-on: "Take off your clothes" (as an excuse to treat her cold: "Perhaps I'd better take a look at you...I'm a doctor") and soon after, they were making love; when he awoke at 6:45 AM the next morning, she was next to him in bed, clasping his hand in hers; he replaced his hand with a thick copy of the book Oedipus Rex

Womanizing Doctor Tomas Treating Tereza's Cold - And Making Love to Her

• at work, Tomas was offered a job transfer to Geneva by his boss Chief Surgeon (Donald Moffat), but he declined ("Everything's fine here") - he unwisely didn't anticipate any political problems with the Russians; his colleague Jiri (Tomek Bork) concurred: "We have socialism with a human face. Who could be against it?"; he also met with former patient Pavel (Pavel Landovský), a farmer who brought his piglet Mephisto; in the locker room, Tomas' sexy nurse friend on the side was angry with him for putting off their date, due to his new female roommate: ("So what I heard was right. Somebody has moved into your place")
• in the next scene, Tomas was having vigorous sex with Sabina in her apartment, but she noticed how absent-minded and distracted he was, always glancing at his watch and in a hurry; he sensed that she was blaming his stress on his new girlfriend Tereza; Tomas expressed the difficult dichotomy of his life to Sabina: "If I had two lives, with one life, I could invite her to stay at my place. And in the second life, I could kick her out. Then I could compare and see which would be the best thing to do. But we only live once. Life's so light. Like an outline we can't ever fill in, or correct, make any better. It's frightening"; Tomas even asked his frequent sex partner Sabina if she could help him by assisting Tereza in finding work as an amateur photographer ("She takes beautiful pictures"), and Sabina was taken aback: ("You want me to help her?"); Tomas was repeatedly torn between being free to exercise his womanizing spirit with Sabina and being dutifully loving to the innocent Tereza
• shortly later, the three met in Sabina's apartment, where Sabina showed Tereza some classic black and white nude photographs, to demonstrate how professional photographers were "searching for a new beauty" - Tereza added: "Something higher" - on a higher level than her typical "pictures of what's going on in the streets"; later in the middle of the night, Tereza experienced a troubling nightmare of Tomas forcing her to watch him make love to Sabina in her studio - "You made me watch...It hurt so much. Why did you do it to me?"
• the threesome celebrated the publication of Tereza's 2 page spread of candid pictures in a magazine by visiting a night-club dance-hall, where Tomas publically stated his political distaste for the Communist government to his Chief Surgeon boss and his colleague Jiri; although he said he was apolitical, he compared Soviet "scoundrels" and their atrocities to the story of "King Oedipus" who he felt rightly punished himself (after unintentionally murdering his father and sleeping with his mother) by plucking out his eyes - unlike the Communists who allowed Stalin to take power; at the same time, stern-looking Communist officials at one of the tables had coerced the pop band to play a Soviet song, causing some in the crowd to vacate the dance floor
• later in the evening in the nightclub, Tereza danced with Jiri and later was surprised to learn that Tomas was capable of jealousy; she playfully teased him and then impulsively asked: "Will you marry me?" - and soon after, Tomas and Tereza were married, with Pavel and his piglet present as a witness; the presiding priest cautioned: "Life isn't a walk on a sunny meadow...", but then ended the ceremony; the shy, bookish, waiflike, innocent and timid Tereza became his ever-faithful and monogamous wife; that evening while celebrating the marriage in a bar-restaurant, they bought a young puppy together: (Tereza: "It will make us happy") and named it Karenin (a character in the book Anna Karenina that she was reading)
• Tomas also attracted unwanted attention by writing a satirical article about his political views on the Russians in an essay to the dissident journal, comparing them to Oedipus; the Czech editor (Bruce Myers) encouraged Tomas' writing on seeking emancipation from the Russians; as Tomas was leaving the office, he flirted with journal's pretty secretary Eva

• meanwhile, Tereza feared Tomas' continued unfaithfulness and infidelities, symbolized by her disturbing vision of bowler hat-wearing Tomas poolside at the resort, supervising a female exercise class in session - with entirely naked women
• as Tomas returned home in the middle of the night, Tereza awakened; unlike Tomas who was able to easily separate his sex life from his married life, she begged him: "Take me to them....To the other women. Take me to them when you make love to them. I'll undress them for you. I'd like to. Really. I'll give them a bath, and I'll bring them to you. I'll do anything you like. Other women's bodies will be our playthings...I know you see other women. I know it. You can't hide it from me...But I can't stand it. I tried hard. I just can't. Take me to them. Don't leave me alone!"
• at the same time, Russian tanks were invading into the streets of Prague, as Tereza raced outside; she daringly decided to capture photos of the deadly invasion; later she slipped her film rolls to a Dutch foreigner-tourist to have them published in the Netherlands - a crime punishable by death; one of her photos was of a Russian soldier threateningly pointing his pistol at Tereza; Tereza's camera and photos were confiscated after she was questioned by a Russian official (László Szabó), and she learned that they were identifying dissidents from photos
• meanwhile during the invasion, Sabina had fled Prague for Geneva, Switzerland due to the dangerous political situation; soon after, Tereza and Tomas also joined the mass exodus ouf of Prague to also go to Switzerland

Sabina's New Affair-Partner - A Married University Professor Franz (Derek de Lint)

• in a political meeting in Geneva, the exiled Sabina listened to a pompous Czech emigrant urging everyone to resist: ("Our Czech people had the right and the duty to fight against the aggressor. People who don't have the courage to fight with arms in their hands do not deserve freedom"); she challenged the hypocritical speaker to "Go back and fight" against the Russian aggression instead of just talking about it; and then outside, she was approached by married university professor Franz (Derek de Lint) who admired her words; she reiterated: "I can't stand pointing fingers and I can't stand raised fists"; at lunch together, she further complained about the background music ("noise") and the plastic flowers at their table; she volunteered to join him for a train ride to Torino where he was due to give a lecture the next day ("I love trains. They are so erotic"); the wild-spirited Sabina initiated a passionate affair between them (even though he admitted to her that he was married)
• in Geneva, Tomas took a new medical position, but Tereza was unable to profitably work as a news photographer (she was told: "It's too late...The events are too remote now. It's over"); however, Tereza was urged (due to her photographic poses) by blonde Swiss photographer (Anne Lonnberg) to try fashion photography
• during Sabina's continuing affair with Franz, he offered to take her to Amsterdam, but she resisted; unlike Tomas, he was uninterested in her bowler hat; he explained why he was too inhibited to have sex with her in Geneva, because unlike Sabina, he "couldn't go from one bed to another the same day" - it would be "humiliating"; Sabina reluctantly agreed to join him in Amsterdam
• after Franz' short visit, Tomas appeared at Sabina's door to continue their sexual relationship (even though he was married, and she was cheating with an adulterous husband); she admitted: "I met another man. He's the best man I've ever met. He's bright, handsome, good, and he's crazy about me"; as a come-on to Tomas, she donned her bowler hat and they had a frenzied, twirling session of passionate love-making

Sabina to Franz: "Why don't you ever want to make love to me in Geneva?"	Sabina (reluctantly) to Franz: "I'll come with you"
Sabina's Tempting Come-On to Tomas - Her Bowler Hat	Twirling, Passionate Love-Making With Tomas

• soon after, Tereza met up with her erotic female friend Sabina, to ask her to be her nude model for some "nude shots"; the two enjoyed a sensual photographic session between them in Sabina's art-studio apartment, after a drink; initially, Tereza photographed a nude Sabina, a long mostly dialogue-less scene during an impending thunderstorm; afterwards Sabina ordered the reluctant and initially-hesitant Tereza to switch positions: "Take off your clothes....Now it's my turn...Take off your clothes" (using Tomas' favorite line) as they seductively switched roles between photographer and subject, culminating in a hide-and-seek nude romp

The Sensual Photography Scene Between Tereza and Sabina

• Franz interrupted their giggling romp, and told Sabina that he was leaving his wife for her - and "couldn't live in lies anymore - we have to live in truth"; Sabina listened as he asked if he could bring his belongings and stay with her beginning the next day
• the next day when Franz entered Sabina's place, he saw that she had completely vacated her apartment, with pieces of broken mirror on the floor; Tomas met up with Sabina in a local hotel room, where she greeted him wearing undergarments and her bowler hat; after another fling with Tomas in bed, Sabina confessed to him that she had some second thoughts about leaving, but then asserted that she couldn't stay in Switzerland, but preferred to run off to Paris or America; she prophetically told him: "Maybe I'm seeing you for the last time"
• once Tomas returned to his own apartment, he found a note Tereza had written to him - about how her life was unbearably heavy, while he regarded life as light-hearted, untangled and emotionally unencumbered: (voice-over) "I know I'm supposed to help you, but I can't. Instead of being your support, I'm your weight. Life is very heavy to me, and it is so light to you. I can't bear this lightness, this freedom, I'm not strong enough. In Prague, I only needed you for love. In Switzerland, I was dependent on you for everything. What would happen if you abandoned me? I'm weak. I'm going back to the country of the weak. Goodbye. I'm sorry, but I've taken Karenin") - a reference to the film's title
• due to Tomas' continued womanizing, Tereza returned to Prague on the train with their dog Karenin; before leaving the train compartment, Russian guards confiscated her passport and camera; now without either Tereza or Sabina, the aimless and lonely Tomas drove back to Prague; as he entered the heavily-guarded border entry into Czechoslovakia, he was stripped of his passport, presumably due to his political views
• after driving through the dark and dismal streets of the city, he was reunited with Tereza in their old apartment - she and Karenin were pleased to see him - and they made love; the Chief Surgeon urged Tomas to sign a government retraction letter and privately denounce the anti-Russian views that he had espoused in his published article about King Oedipus; Tomas pondered whether to sign it or not, and told Tereza why he might not: "Cowardice slowly becomes a rule of life"
• in his doctor's office, Tomas was visited by a sinister member of the Ministry of the Interior (Daniel Olbrychski), who wanted Tomas to name the publisher of the article, but Tomas wasn't very cooperative or helpful; he was handed a retraction letter (to admit his "temporary error" and vow his support for the Communist Party) and he was threatened: "Nobody requires a doctor to understand politics. Of course, we can't allow a politically suspicious man to operate on brains"
• ultimately (off-screen), Tomas refused to give in and sign the retraction; he became regarded as a political dissident, was blacklisted, and lost his clinical doctor position; he was forced to take a window-washing job while Tereza was employed as a waitress in a small bar
• Tomas was still having occasional flings; one day as he was washing apartment windows, he was invited into the apartment of a Tall Brunette (Consuela De Haviland) who asked: "You're a doctor, aren't you?"; the married woman offered him a glass of wine and payment for a consultation about her back pain; she slowly offered him a striptease after he ordered: "Take off your clothes"; she sat provocatively in a chair with her back to him; there was photographic evidence in the room that she was the daughter of a high-ranking Communist Party official

Tomas With Tall Brunette (Consuela De Haviland)

• when Tomas returned home and was retiring in bed with Tereza for the night, she could smell his infidelity: ("Your hair smells of - of another woman's sex"), and asked why he kept seeing other women when it upset her: ("I thought you had come back here for me"); she knew what his explanation would be: "There is love and there is sex. Sex is entertainment, like football. I know it's light. I wish I could believe you. But how can someone make love, without being in love? I just don't know. Let me try. No. You'd reject me if I tried. I wish I could be like you: Insensitive, strong..."
• earlier, Tereza had been propositioned by an Engineer (Stellan Skarsgaard) - one of her bar customers, who had asked her: "What is a beautiful girl like you doing in this terrible part of Prague?", and then gave her his address; now, to test her own lightness toward sex, she visited him in his apartment and regretfully accepted a one-time unfaithful sexual liaison with him; as he touched her breast through and under her clothing, she became uncomfortably paranoid about a drawn curtain and the presence of someone else in the room; he demonstrated that no one else there; he stripped her of her panties as she laid lifeless and passive under him, looking straight upward; he removed his clothes and laid on top of her, as she gripped her fist and tearfully let him have his way

Tereza During A One-Night Stand with an Engineer

• after her uncomfortable and detached sexual encounter with the Engineer, Tereza's nervous fears were exasperated when she spoke to a former Ambassador (Erland Josephson) who warned about how the Engineer might be a member of the secret police, and that she ("a beautiful girl") might have been set up by the Party - as a blackmail target (to be filmed) in order to denounce both her and Tomas; he concluded: "Now they have what they wanted. Now you are afraid"
• in the film's compelling ending, Tereza and Tomas (who could not leave the country due to the political chaos and their confiscated passports) were forced to vacate the politically-distressed and overrun city of Prague, to find marital bliss in the countryside; Tereza urged Tomas: "Prague has grown so ugly"; Tomas realized he must come to terms with his profligate life of continual affairs, and attempt to reconcile his fragile and tender relationship with Tereza and become more emotionally fulfilled
• the two moved to live on the farm of commune leader Pavel (one of Tomas' past patients) and his grown pet pig Mephisto; sadly, a symbol of their happy lives together - their dog Karenin - began to limp and was found to be suffering from life-threatening cancer; Tereza spoke about how her superior love for Karenin in some ways superceded her love for Tomas: ("I was forced to love my mother. But not to love this dog. You know, Tomas, maybe, maybe I love her more than I love you. Not more. I mean, in a better way"); Tomas urged that they shouldn't wait any longer, to put Karenin out of pain; Tereza held and comforted Karenin with wonderful thoughts: "Don't be scared. Don't be scared, Karenin. You won't feel any pain there. It will be beautiful there. You'll have cows to chase. And Mephisto will be there. Don't be scared"; they buried their beloved dog in an earthen grave near the farmhouse
• as the film concluded, the farm group (Tomas, Tereza, Pavel, Pavel's nephew and Mephisto) drove to the village tavern 40 kilometers away for a flirtatious night of drinking and dancing; Pavel's nephew invited Tereza for a lively dance as Tomas watched; to encourage Tomas to have a drink, Pavel encouraged him spend the night there with Tereza, and drive the farm truck home the next day
• in the next scene, Sabina was seen near a beachside area in California, where she had taken up painting; on a very sad note, Sabina learned through a letter from Pavel sent from Europe about some tragic "bad news" - the death of her two friends Tomas and Terez who were killed instantly when the brakes on the farm truck failed on a slick rainy road; she told friends what she had just learned and added: "I was their closest friend"

Final Flashback of Their Last Moments Together
An Overnight in the Tavern in Familiar Room # 6	Tomas (Viewed Through a Rainy Windshield): "I'm thinking how happy I am"

• the film ended with a flashback to their last night in the small tavern, and the couple's entry for an overnight into familiar Room 6 just before their deaths; the next morning as they drove down the road in the rain, Tomas (viewed through a rainy and blurry windshield) answered Tereza about what he was thinking: "I'm thinking how happy I am"