Daisies

Director: Věra Chytilová

1966 / 76min / 35mm

A drolly anarchic cine-provocation that bloomed just before the Prague Spring, Chytilová’s Czechoslovak New Wave farce—the first of her several collaborations with Ester Krumbachová, who’s both costume designer and co-screenwriter here—is a feminist Duck Soup buddy movie, an expression of pure anti-social revolt and gleeful gluttony in which two gal pals, both named Marie (Ivana Karbanová and Jitka Cerhová), embark together on a wanton spree, tricking elderly lechers into treating them to dinners that they tear into with lustful, lip-smacking abandon. “Pure freefalling frolic, exhilarating and even nauseating, like eating only cake. It’s full of flapper jazz, flowers and frosting, and much of it takes place in the ladies’ room; few women who see it don’t respond with some recognition at the thrill of this Best Friend Forever daze.” —Miriam Bale, Joan’s Digest