Daisies

If the entire world is bad, why shouldn’t we be? Adopting this insolent attitude as their guiding philosophy, a pair of hedonistic young women (Ivana Karbanová and Jitka Cerhová), both named Marie, embark on a gleefully debauched odyssey of gluttony, giddy destruction, and antipatriarchal resistance, in which nothing is safe from their nihilistic pursuit of pleasure. But what happens when the fun is over? Matching her anarchic message with an equally radical aesthetic, director Věra Chytilová, with the close collaboration of cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera, unleashes an optical storm of fluctuating film stocks, kaleidoscopic montages, cartoonish stop-motion cutouts, and surreal costumes designed by Ester Krumbachová, who also cowrote the script. The result is Daisies, the most defiant provocation of the Czechoslovak New Wave, an exuberant call to rebellion aimed squarely at those who uphold authoritarian oppression in any form.

Film Info

  • Czechoslovakia
  • 1966
  • 76 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.37:1
  • Czech
  • Spine #1157

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Audio commentary featuring film scholars Daniel Bird and Peter Hames
  • New interview with film programmer Irena Kovarova
  • Documentary from 2002 about director Věra Chytilová
  • Documentary about the artistic collaboration among Chytilová, cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera, and screenwriter Ester Krumbachová
  • Two short films from 1962 by Chytilová: A Bagful of Fleas and Ceiling
  • Trailer
  • New English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Carmen Gray

    New cover by Jillian Adel

Purchase Options

Collector's Sets

Collector's Set

Eclipse Series 32: Pearls of the Czech New Wave

Pearls of the Czech New Wave

DVD Box Set

4 Discs

$48.96

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Audio commentary featuring film scholars Daniel Bird and Peter Hames
  • New interview with film programmer Irena Kovarova
  • Documentary from 2002 about director Věra Chytilová
  • Documentary about the artistic collaboration among Chytilová, cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera, and screenwriter Ester Krumbachová
  • Two short films from 1962 by Chytilová: A Bagful of Fleas and Ceiling
  • Trailer
  • New English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Carmen Gray

    New cover by Jillian Adel
Daisies
Cast
Jitka Cerhová
Marie I
Ivana Karbanová
Marie II
Marie Češková
Woman in toilet
Jiřina Myšková
Woman in toilet
Marcela Březinová
Woman in toilet
Julius Albert
Elderly gentleman
Oldřich Hora
Gentleman
Jan Klusák
Younger gentleman
Jaromír Vomáčka
Cheerful man
Credits
Director
Věra Chytilová
Story by
Věra Chytilová
Story by
Pavel Juráček
Screenplay by
Ester Krumbachová
Screenplay by
Věra Chytilová
Artistic collaboration
Ester Krumbachová
Artistic collaboration
Jaroslav Kučera
Cinematography by
Jaroslav Kučera
Edited by
Miroslav Hájek
Production manager
Rudolf Hájek
Music by
Jiří Šust
Music by
Jiří Šlitr
Set design by
Karel Lier
Sound by
Ladislav Hausforf
Costume design by
Ester Krumbachová
Makeup by
Ladislav Bacílek
Assistant director
Rudolf Jaroš

Current

Daisies: Giggling Generals; One and Two
Daisies: Giggling Generals; One and Two

In one of the most incendiary and formally experimental films of the Czechoslovak New Wave, two mysterious young women uncover humanity’s endless potential for revolt.

By Carmen Gray

Eclipse Series 32: Pearls of the Czech New Wave
Eclipse Series 32: Pearls of the Czech New Wave
Pearls of the Deep: Alumni AssociationIn the mid-1960s, there was a brief window during which a remarkable cinema of ideas and visual experimentation flourished in Communist Czechoslovakia. This fecund period lasted approximately five years, from 196…

By Michael Koresky

The Velvet and the Worms: Ester Krumbachová’s Unsung Legacy
The Velvet and the Worms: Ester Krumbachová’s Unsung Legacy

Primarily known as a costume and production designer, this multitalented visionary deserves to be more widely recognized as one of the most important creative forces behind the Czechoslovak New Wave.

By Jonathan Owen

K. K. Barrett’s Top 10
K. K. Barrett’s Top 10

“These are ten films that tickle me in the right places,” says Academy Award–nominated production designer K. K. Barrett.

Daisies Dress-up
Daisies Dress-up

Print your own paper-doll versions of the Maries.