Something Different (1963) / A Bagful Of Fleas (1962) - Two Films By Vera Chytilova (DVD)

SOMETHING DIFFERENT follows the lives of two women a gymnast in gruelling training (real life Olympic gold-medallist Eva Bosáková), and a dissatisfied housewife (V?ra Uzelacová). The two strands never meet, but provide a progressive comment on each other and the differing roles of the women. In A BAGFUL OF FLEAS, the everyday world of young factory girls lives in the cotton mills of Náchod conflict with officialdom.

The late, great Czech filmmaker V?ra Chytilová (DAISIES, FRUIT OF PARADISE) was one of the Czech New Wave s most rebellious, 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 .

These two terrific early works introduce themes evident across her career: a progressive female viewpoint in a world of double standards and predatory sexualisation dominated by men, the expectations and strictures of female gender roles, and a strong critique of contemporary society. Combining elements of cinema vérité and formalism, and spiked with anarchic humour, her films broke with both genre and ideology and charted a new path for Czechoslovak and Eastern European cinema.

SPECIAL TWO-FILM EDITION CONTENTS