Daisies (1966), written and directed by Věra Chytilová, is Czechoslovakian surrealist comedy-drama
It is one of the films that influenced indie director Mike Mills’ 20th Century Women.
Mike Mills:
This is one of my favorite films. Two women run amok, in a film that’s running amok, political like getting drunk can be political in that there’s some liberation, some powerful rejection of power in unsobriety.
Visually kinetic, non-plot-centric, gorgeous, and infused with a female rebellion and female anger and power in the best way. The color “smears” in my film are not a 60’s reference, they’re a little letter of appreciation to Věra Chytilová.
Regarded as a milestone of the Czechoslovak New Wave movement, it follows two young women (Jitka Cerhová and Ivana Karbanová), both named Marie, who engage in strange pranks between themselves and with others.
The title sequence intersperses shots of a spinning flywheel with shots of airplanes strafing and bombing the ground.
The first scene shows Marie I and Marie II sitting in bathing suits. Creaking sounds accompany their movements, and their conversation is robotic. They decide that, since the whole world is spoiled, they will be spoiled as well.
In one scene, the Maries cut up various phallic foods while a butterfly collector declares his love for Marie II over the phone.
In the final scene, the Maries return to the dining room. They sweep off the soiled tablecloth, set the table with shards of plates and broken glasses, and pour the food back onto platters. They are whispering about being hardworking so that everything will be wonderful.
When they finish, they lie on the table, declaring happiness. Marie II asks Marie I to repeat this. Marie I asks if they are pretending, and Marie II says they are not.
The chandelier falls on them and the film cuts to war footage, over which a statement dedicates the film “to those who get upset only over a stomped-upon bed of lettuce.”
Originally planned as a satire of bourgeois decadence, the movie targets those attached and blindly obey to rules.
It was referred to by Chytilová as “a necrologue about a negative way of life.”
Daisies also inverts the stereotypical ideas of women and redraws them to the heroines’ advantage.
The film is considered a major critique of patriarchy, authoritarianism, communism.
Released in 1966, two years before the Prague Spring, the film was labeled as “depicting the wanton” by the Czech authorities and was subsequently banned.
Director Chytilová was forbidden to work in her homeland until 1975.