Interview with Vera Chytilova


Vera Chytilova was finally celebrated with a retrospective all over the UK in the Spring of 2002. When she visited London for the beginning of the Prague on Film Festival, I had the pleasure of talking to her and got some valuable inside information on her career and philosophy.

Beginning with her first success Daisies in 1966, Vera has gone on to create many wonderfully innovative and challenging films that have span four deacades. It’s seems fitting therefore that she should be the centre point on a film season celebrating Prague.

Also in attendance with Vera was Dasha Blahova, who starred in her commercially successful, yet controversial film The Apple Game (Hra o jablko).

Vera, how do you feel about having a retrospective in London?

Vera Chytilova: It’s not just in London; it’s in the United Kingdom. It feels quite normal as I have retrospectives all over the world.

Why has it taken so long for Prague to be featured in a season like this, considering there have been so many films about or set in Prague?

VC: It took London that long to make it happen.

Even though you started making films in the 50’s, most people remember your first success as being Daisies. What are your recollections of the film, particularly it being well received?

VC: Daisies as well as most of my other films was made despite the protests of the authorities. We were trying for almost half of the year to get the permission to shoot this film, so eventually they let us do it.



Were there any influences in the making of Daisies, particularly in the formal approach?

VC: In the Cinematography, Daisies is not comparable with anything else. This film was created with thanks to, and because of, our team, which was in fact ideal. The camera was done by my husband (Jaroslav Kucera), and the artistic design was done by Esther Krumbochova. This film was my first project in colour and we wanted the colour to have its function, not really a description. The authorities were under the impression that it was a film about the Czech youth. What we wanted to make was an existential film and to use it as a protest against the destruction of the country. What was interesting was that the western part of the world perceived this film as being against all conventions. So it’s clear that it depends from what angle you perceive the film. So from one point you can see the things as liberating. We thought that the creativity as well as destruction was two sides of the same coin because people who are not capable of creation get their kicks from destruction. And at the same time there was some kind of protestations against the political rehabilitations that took place at the time the film was made, which is present in the film’s final scene. The film was laughing at them, ridiculing them, and I think they understood that. Therefore, the film wasn’t shown in Cinemas.

Aside from the political perceptions, were the Surrealists or animators an influence on you?

VC: Definitely there was an influence in the direction of the actors from puppets. It was highly, highly stylized in order to create a psychological approach to acting. But as part of that they were perceived on a psychological level. It’s very difficult to make the viewer accept the idea of the form and not be taken by the story.

Your next film The Fruit Of Paradise mixes allegory with the avant-garde, and also Ester Krumbochova was involved in the making of the film. Her presence in the mise-en-scene was very evident. What was it like working with her?


VC: Because of Daisies the western producer who wanted to make the film approached me. The whole creative team was approached. We wanted to try and do as much as possible with the film language. Because at the time we were occupied by the Soviet army, we had to use allegory about love, brotherhood and friendship.

In the mid-70’s you made The Apple Game and you (Dasha Blahova) were involved as well. What are your recollections of this film and working with Vera?

Dasha Blahova: The Apple Game was her (Vera’s) first film in a long time. It was actually the first film she was able to shoot. This film was actually quite a rocket in our country.

VC: It was a huge success in the cinema and, because of that huge success, it created some sort of a scandal because at the same time the Czech Cinematography was claiming that there was a crisis in attendances in the cinemas, and suddenly this came along and people went to see it even in the mornings, which was something very unusual at this time

DB: This film wasn’t allegory but they saw it as allegory, the system you see. It took a while for it to be accepted by the authorities.

Had that paradox, that it did very well, make people also feel uncomfortable?

DB: No, there were all sorts of fors and againsts – there was births, hospitals, that it was something new for a Communist system, people who shouldn’t really be seeing things like that, like a naked body. Whatever excuse it was, it was.

VC: They did not let the film show for half a year as my Communist colleague marked the film as pornography. Also the depiction of giving birth was considered unsuitable. So, they initiated a query which was actually a question asked afterwards by the Soviet Embassy: ‘How is it possible that in the Czech Republic, these films are being made which are not suitable, or cannot be seen because it’s unsuitable for watching by the Soviet audiences?'

DB: By the way, the film was being shown and getting praises outside of the Czech Republic before it was being shown there. It got awards in Chicago, the Soviet Union, etc., a year before it was shown in our country.

Bringing us to tonight’s film, Prague: Restless Heart of Europe, it was a series of films on European cultural cities, how honoured did you feel to be asked to make the film on behalf of Prague?

VC: They did not address me, they addressed Jiri Menzel and Menzel was not able to do it, so he asked me to do it. So I said yes, but the Italian Producer who actually ordered this film to be made, had to agree with it. They agree with this, but after the film was made they put on the credits that the film was made by Jiri Menzel. Since then I have been to court with the Italian Producers and that Court Case still hasn’t finished. It hasn’t happened before, but you send your film abroad and they do different credits, and you can’t do anything about that. We approach the European Association of Filmmakers to help us with this case and nothing really could have been done about that. Italians are not possible to be killed. What was more complicated was that the whole series was meant to have been an exchange, so they would have to withdraw the copies and change all of the subtitles, the credits, and that obviously was bad, so now you have an opportunity to correct that…it’s true because even now, when I was looking at the web pages and the credits, many still have the film as being shot by Menzel. I have just found out that here (this festival) we are going to show the film with no credits at all, so I am not happy about it, I am enraged. Because now you are in partnership with those criminals (laughs).

VC: And if you are happy about this, you are an immoral person.

The Prague on Film Festival featuring the Vera Chytilova retrospective took place in the UK in Spring 2002.