VÉRA CHYTILOVÁ | CZECH REPUBLIC 1998, 124m | 8:00PM, FRIDAY 27 JULY
There is anger and anarchy at the heart of Chytilová’s film, which suggests the impotence of women to do anything about a male dominated society (which they are all too frequently complicit in) is the cruelest cut of all. – Amber Wilkinson, Eye For Film
This under-seen, pitch-black farce ranks amongst the director’s most provocative and unforgettable films, as fiercely feminist as it is nonetheless ribald and pessimistic. Burlesquing the rape-revenge genre, it concerns a veterinarian and the fallout from the very particular vengeance she obtains after being sexually assaulted by a corrupt MP and a slimy advertising executive. Véra Chytilová’s antepenultimate fiction film is a family affair, with camerawork from son Štěpán Kučera and costuming by daughter Tereza Kučerová.
Courtesy of the National Film Archive in Prague
Czech with English subtitles
Unrated 15+
Co-presented with the Czech and Slovak Film Festival and the Australian Cinémathèque.
This is a free screening taking place at the Australian Cinémathèque, GoMA, as part of the retrospective Original Sins: Resistance and Feminism in the Avant-Garde Cinema of Véra Chytilová.
