Something Different

For a film about the monotony of everyday life, Something Different is wonderfully unpredictable. Even the scenes of domestic hustle and bustle betray the hand of the future author of Daisies. Interrupted gestures, surprising cuts, parallel editing – without Věra Chytilová there would be no Czech New Wave. The Ostrava-born director has enriched the cinema with surrealistic tropes, while sticking to a realistic storyline in this earlier feature. We find the two protagonist at a moment of life impasse. Vera (Věra Uzelacová) is a housewife and Eva (Eva Bosáková, Olympic gold medallist) is a professional gymnast. What they have in common, is a sense of alienation and a longing for change. Chytilová’s reflection on their fate is deeply feminist in nature – she directs her gaze on undervalued housework and the social conditioning to which women are subjected, and which is often more demanding than rigorous physical demands endured by sport professionals.

Bogna Goślińska

Věra Chytilová (1929-2014) was a Czech director and screenwriter. Along with Jiří Menzel and Miloš Forman, among others, she was part of the Czechoslovakian New Wave. She referred to herself as “an overheated boiler about to explode” and “a monster under control”. Her most famous film is the surrealist comedy Daisies (1966), but she’s also known for such films as Fruit of Paradise (1970) and Wolf’s Hole (1987), the last of which belongs to the horror and sci-fi genres.