About Daisies

Věra Chytilová’s classic of surrealist cinema is the most adventurous and anarchic Czech movie of the 1960s. Two young women, both named Marie, revolt against a degenerate, decayed and oppressive society, attacking symbols of wealth and bourgeois culture. The Maries’ engage in a series of anarchic pranks and indulgent behavior as a form of rebellion against the conformist, patriarchal society they live in. The films narrative is loose and fragmented, with the characters gleefully defying logic and convention as they wreak havoc on social order, playing with food, men, and societal rules with reckless abandon.

Daisies is celebrated for its avant-garde style, characterized by bold visual experimentation, rapid editing, and surrealist imagery. Chytilová employed a wide range of cinematic techniques, including colour filters, collage effects, and abrupt changes in tone and style, to create a playful yet subversive critique of the emptiness and absurdity of consumerism and authoritarianism. The film also contains a strong feminist undercurrent, with the Maries refusal to conform to traditional female roles challenging the objectification and control of women in society. Instead of “realistically” portraying the female experience, the director moves into a surreal space in order to confront the absurd patriarchal fantasies that shape the surrounding reality. Marie and Marie are presented as hyperbolised images of femininity, dismantling the integrity of such representations.

Defiant feminist statement? Nihilistic, avant-garde comedy? Daisies remains a fascinating cinematic rollercoaster. Remarkable and refreshingly uncompromising, it continues to provoke, stimulate and entertain. Daisies is a riotous, punk-poem of a film that is both hilarious and mind-warpingly innovative, it has and continues to influence generations of filmmakers.

Reviews -

‘One of the Czech New Waves most revellious, irreverent and boundary-breaking talents... a vibrant innovator, whose uncompromising vision in a decidedly male-run industry made her known as the First Lady of Czech Cinema’ - Carmen Gray, BFI.

‘An amazing explosion of pop-art colours, absurdist humour and proto-feminist politics... It’s a trip, a surreal manifesto, a joy to behold’ - Sukhdev Sandhu, The Telegraph

‘My favourite Czech film and one of the most exhilarating stylistic and psychedelic eruptions of the 60s’ - Jonathan Rosenbaum

‘Freshly humorous and accessible… A surrealist comedy way ahead of its time’ - All Movie Guide

‘The film is as timeless as it is beautiful’ - About World Film

‘Chytilovás incendiary, surrealistic melée [...] remains one of the key films of the Czech New Wave and it does stand up rather well as a withering, form-bending critique of materialism, patriarchy and human annihilation’ - David Jenkins, Time Out

‘Extremely funny, witty and expertly-fashioned film… displays a remarkable control of filmic language, special effects, rhythm and sight gags’ - Variety