Daisies

Daisies aka Sedmikráski (Vera Chytilová, 1966)
This Czech film, banished by the government when it came out, might be one of the most interesting experimental feminist farce I've ever seen. It is about two girls, Marie I and Marie II and they decided that in this world of conventions, routine, work, they will destroy everything that stands in their way and do everything the way they want it. Breaking up conventions, etiquette, and the whole way the society works. They choose to be "bad" and to only listen to themselves. At one point, it does a certain critique to the teenage girls that want to do nothing and that only live for empty things like clothing, food, getting everything they want from elder men, etc. However, after a while the message of the film unravels slowly and demonstrate how this is a critique towards the things that are regulate but rules or morals. The duo might look like if those two girls were little brats, in many ways they are, but they also represents a wind of freshness and social satire.

This is also a movie about excesses, so much food is wasted and so much alcohol is drank it is almost intoxicating for the viewer. Personal note, if you are a sweet tooth like I am, be sure to watch this after a nice meal otherwise you'll be having a hard time not to get hungry... Daisies is also a direct punch to the Social Republic of Czechoslovakia by displaying two women being individual and doing their own things out of the social conventions. One of them is not even registered, so she is living clandestinely and she doesn't work either.

Chytilová's film is about freedom of speech in the characters she presents in her film but also in the way she makes her film. By breaking barriers and the rules she accomplishes a film reminiscent of Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow Up released the same year that exploited the period of the 1960's. Both films reflect the essence of the decade and their creators denounced different problems. Nevertheless, the core of their films cries out loud 1960's and the climate of revolutions of the ending of this decade.

Finally, Daisies is a cute little (72 minutes) film of weirdness and in your face provocation to the government of its country of origin. Far from being a masterpiece it sure has a potential at being a cult classic. Not for everyone but worth the look.