O něčem jiném
Something Different
Věra Chytilová
This film is about Something Different, and in 1963 won Věra Chytilová first prize in the Mannheim Film Festival. Chytilová does not present just the one role model, such as that of the New Woman which propagated by Socialism. Rather, her film is about the lives of two women that are as similar as they are different, and these lives defy all comparison since each appears on the screen within the parameters of a different film genre. The housewife Věra, her husband, small son and lover are fictitious, while top gymnast Eva Bosáková is real.
The documentary film bears witness to this with footage of her training for the 1962 World Championships in Prague. In the parallel montage of these two films, something new manifests itself, the radical rejection of a decision. The unease they feel about their personal circumstances and the fact that neither really changes anything appears to be the only thing that connects the two women. The gymnast endures endless physical torture and foregoes a social life for the sake of her success, while Věra fails to break out of her monotonous, loveless life. Only details from the film montage reveal occasional moments of productive commonality.
Awards for ›Von etwas anderem‹
Großer Preis – Inernationale Filmwoche Mannheim 1963
Věra Chytilová
Věra Chytilová (1929–2014) was a key figure of the Czechoslovak New Wave. She was the first woman to study directing at the Prague Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts. She graduated in 1962 and made her debut film A Bagful of Fleas the same year. In 1966, her second feature film Daisies played an important role in the revival of Czech cinema, challenging conventions in filmmaking. The Communist Party publicly criticised the revolutionary satire about double standards. Shortly after the Warsaw Pact troops invaded Prague on 21 August 1968, it became impossible for Chytilová to make films and she was forced to work under her husband’s name, primarily on commercials. Despite being banned from practicing her profession, Fruit of Paradise premiered at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival and in Czechoslovakia. The ban was lifted in 1976, and she went on to shoot more than 20 works for film and television.
Films by Věra Chytilová (selection)
Hezké chvilky bez záruky 2006 | Vyhnáni z ráje 2001 | Kalamita (Calamity) 1980 | Ovoce stromu rajskych jíme (Fruit of Paradise) 1969 | Sedmikrásky (Daisies) 1966 | O něčem jiném (Something Different) 1963 | Pytel blech (A Bagful of Fleas) 1962 | Strop (Ceiling) 1961
