The Unbearable Lightness of Being

In Philip Kaufman's surprisingly successful film adaptation of Czech author Milan Kundera's demanding 1984 bestseller, Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Tomas, an overly amorous Prague surgeon, while Juliette Binoche plays Tereza, the waiflike beauty whom he marries. Even though he's supposedly committed, ...more

This lush, haunting film features some of the most blunt and stirring eroticism this side of Last Tango in Paris. Almost universally lauded on its release, Lightness was called "the most openly sexual American film in ages" by one publication. Its sexual content was undeniable, but more remarkable than the numerous and acrobatic couplings was the complexity in director Philip Kaufman's treatment of adult sexuality. More sensual than sexual, Lightness went where few films dared, making sex less a ...more