Věra Chytilová

Directing

Věra Chytilová

Born February 2, 1929 · Ostrava, Czechoslovakia

Died March 12, 2014 · aged 85

Věra Chytilová (February 2, 1929 – March 12, 2014) was an avant-garde Czech film director and pioneer of Czech cinema. At the age of 28 she was accepted into the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU). While attending FAMU she studied underneath renowned film director Otakar Vavra, graduating in 1962. Chytilová is best known for her once highly controversial film Se…

Known For

DaisiesDaisies · 1966
Daisies
★ 7.31966
MovieComedyDrama
Two teenage girls embark on a series of destructive pranks in which they consume and destroy the world around them.
Fruit of ParadiseFruit of Paradise · 1970
Fruit of Paradise
★ 6.21970
MovieDramaFantasy
An experimental retelling of the story of Adam and Eve which then progresses into an allegorical depiction of the loss of innocence.
Expulsion from ParadiseExpulsion from Paradise · 2001
Expulsion from Paradise
★ 4.82001
MovieDramaComedy
Philosophical movie, staged at the least philosophical environment imaginable: A closed scenery of a nudist spot, where some hired Czech stuff is making a plain erotic movie for a rich Russian producer. Nothing in this movie is what it seems to be at the first superficial glance.
The Emperor and the GolemThe Emperor and the Golem · 1951
The Emperor and the Golem
★ 7.01951
MovieComedyFantasy
The Emperor's mismanagement of his country is provoking some in his court to plot to overthrow him. He feels successful, at least, when he discovers the legendary Golem, which he believes can protect him and even cure his imaginary illnesses but, when he disappears while on a bender, his kindly baker, who looks just like him, is mistaken for him, and begins to put things in order. However, the conspirators, not to be outdone, determine to bring the Golem back to life to do their bidding.
Wolf's HoleWolf's Hole · 1987
Wolf's Hole
★ 6.61987
MovieDramaHorror
Eleven disparate adolescents, gathered for a skiing camp at an isolated winter resort, find themselves preyed upon and set against one another by their three mysterious instructors.
The Inheritance or FuckoffguysgooddayThe Inheritance or Fuckoffguysgoodday · 1992
The Inheritance or Fuckoffguysgoodday
★ 6.81992
MovieComedy
Bohus is indolent and spends his days drinking brandy. One day he finds he has inherited a brickworks, several shops and a five-star hotel. Bohus sets out to tour his new empire, insulting everyone on the way.
Panelstory or Birth of a CommunityPanelstory or Birth of a Community · 1981
Panelstory or Birth of a Community
★ 7.11981
MovieComedyDrama
An old man is wandering round a badly signposted and as yet mostly under construction Prague housing estate looking for the high rise block into which he is supposed to be moving with his daughter's family. The old granddad from the countryside likes chatting, nothing escapes his eyes and he wants to give everyone a helping hand.
Something DifferentSomething Different · 1963
Something Different
★ 6.41963
MovieDrama
In her first feature, Věra Chytilová uses a combination of documentary and fiction film techniques to tell two stories in counterpoint. The first follows Olympic champion gymnast Eva Bosáková, who contemplates retirement as she undergoes a gruelling training schedule; the second, a housewife who is unappreciated and ignored by her husband.

Filmography

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Seven Days to RememberSeven Days to Remember · 1968
Seven Days to Remember
★ 7.01968
MovieDocumentary
The Soviet advance met with fierce, idealistic resistance. We join the hundreds of students as they man barricades constructed from overturned lorries to try to halt the advance. Sparsely armed, they fight fiercely, driven by a belief in their new and better socialism. But the deadening, inevitable weight of Soviet might soon stamps its boot across this hopeful Czech vision. Over 100 people died in the reprisals which followed, and tens of thousands fled their homes for the West. This is the definitive story of the heady days before Soviet "normalisation" took hold. The film was assembled using footage smuggled out of Prague. What began as an account of the liberation of a people, became a documentary of oppression; as the tanks moved in, the cameras simply continued rolling.

Cinematography

Searching for EsterSearching for Ester · 2005
Searching for Ester
★ 8.02005
MovieDocumentary
Ester Krumbachová - a costume designer, screenwriter, director; one of the boldest personalities of the Czech New Wave. She worked in theatre, she was a writer and an illustrator. She co-created films such as O slavnosti a hostech (1966), Sedmikrásky (1966), Vsichni dobrí rodáci (1969), Pension pro svobodné pány (1968), Valerie a týden divu (1970), Slamený klobouk (1972) and many others. In the 1960s, she was a 'pivot' of the art scene in Prague, attracting artists who were on the threshold of their career, just setting out to find their own form of self-realization. Those who underwent her tutelage remember her forever. Director Vera Chytilová talks to those who knew Ester Krumbachová, who worked with her, befriended her, loved her. She sets off on a search that is to end by answering the question: Who was Ester?

Director