Friday, 3 February 2023

Daisies (1966)

Daisies is a particularly unique czech new-wave film and is wonderful for its experimentation, humour and visual madness. As with most great films, you can't really pin down the meaning of this one. It features two young women who make a decision that if the world is spoiled, then they will be spoiled. They thus embark on an unhinged, madcap odyssey in which they dine and tease older men, cause havoc in a nightclub, get into food fights, and cut each other up with scissors in one of my favourite, bonkers scenes.

What I love about this film is the sense of liberation and freedom it gives. The film is an uninhbited, humorous exploration of cinematic form which never ceases to entertain. It reminds me, to some extent, of the Japanese film Hausu (1977), in that Hausu is equally uninhibited and formally experimental. 

If one wanted to get all political, one could read Daisies, through the unfettered adventures of its female characters, as an anarchist and feminist film. I say this as you have two women defying social conventions, toying with men and freely expressing themselves (albeit in an absurd, silly way). 

Daisies was made a female director, Věra Chytilová. I feel this is worth pointing out as there weren't a huge amount of female directors at the time, especially making films like this. Ultimately, Daisies perfectly encapsulates the experimental, subversive mood of 60s new-wave cinema.

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