Film Forum

U.S. 1988
Directed by Philip Kaufman
With Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Derek de Lint, Erland Josephson
Screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrière, Philip Kaufman
Cinematography by Sven Nykvist
Approx. 171 min. Restored DCP Courtesy of the Saul Zaentz Company.

“The story begins in Prague in 1968, during the period of freedom of expression and artistic flowering known as 'socialism with a human face.' Day-Lewis's Tomas is a hedonist, a womanizer, and an eminent young brain surgeon; Olin's Sabina, a painter who is his longtime sex partner, and Binoche's Tereza, whom he marries, represent the two poles of his life-lightness and weight. Kaufman has an exuberant temperament, and the spirit of the film is younger and looser than that of the book; a short 173 minutes, the picture has a whirling beauty.” – Pauline Kael

Presented with support from the Ada Katz Fund for Literature in Film