Week 5: Aug 11-13

Dir. Vera Chytilová (1966); Czechoslovakia, 74 min

Programmed by: Alyssa Glaze

initially banned in the Czech republic, daisies is a film about two young, spunky women both named Marie that decide the world is too abundant and spoiled, and that they too should be spoiled in turn. in attempt to resist normalcy and radicalize, throughout the movie these women steal ample amounts food and alcohol from various men, and celebrate amongst each other. this film is an esoteric and exaggerated comedy that has themes consisting of the marginalization of women, oppression, and objectification. the maries desire meaningful existence and use their beauty and gender roles to do so. Czechslovakian censors scrambled to find a reason to ban the film due to the heavy radicalization and their behavior at the time, eventually settling on the ban being because of wastage of food in the film. as chaotic as it gets, daisies is a truly unpredictable and intriguing movie that still raises many questions, even 70+ years later.