“Daisies” (directed by Vḝra Chytilová and written by Chytilová, Ester Krumbachová, and Pavel Juráček), was banned from most theaters shortly after its release. This is because, like all revolutionary work, it was a punch in the face to those in power in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic of 1966, a fragile country with 20 years of communist rule behind it and another tenuous 20 years ahead (communist rule would end there in 1989 after the “Velvet Revolution”).
From the first frame of “Daisies,” you know you’re in for something special. It’s a film that even now, nearly 60 years later, is startling in its wild abandon and unfettered narrative. It has no plot; it’s pure delicious anarchy throughout.
First-time Actors Steal the Show
Nearly every filmmaking technique is used in the film. Vibrant color randomly changes to stark black and white that changes to duotone and back. Split screen and off-kilter framing pepper the film and even though the soundtrack is bare bones, there’s endless invention with the sound design.
Two teenage girls named ‘Marie 1’ and ‘Marie 2’ (Jitka Cerhová and Ivana Karbanová, who stunningly had never acted before but looked like they had been performing for years) determine that since the world is spoiled and headed for destruction, they’re going to live their lives doing anything they want, society be damned. What follows are several days of chaos, as the girls hustle older men for food and rain chaos wherever they go, the chaos that can only be unleashed by apathetic teens.
The girls have a “good cop/bad cop” system when hustling older men. Marie 1 assumes all the female stereotypes. When having dinner with the “target” men, she playfully flirts, coos, licks her utensils suggestively, twirls her hair and is submissive in every way. Marie 2 is the opposite, forcing her way into the meal, ordering every dish possible, insulting the men while shaming them into giving her more stuff. Both girls are avatars for Chytilová’s view on how men see women. Men either see them as seductresses or shrews; they never bother to see women as complex individuals, only as clichés with curves.
Confronting Society’s Expectations
However, most of the film is far from a grim manifesto. There are hilarious sections of “Daisies,” most notably a scene in a cabaret, where the girls frolic in a balcony, devouring drinks and food and tormenting the old couple with the misfortune of sitting at a table in front of them. All the while, a show is going on up front; but as the scene progresses and the girls get wilder, most of the audience starts watching them instead of the performers. Eventually, the girls are dragged out of the club as the band desperately plays an exit song over and over, trying to hurry them out to no avail. The whole scene is choreographed and shot perfectly, reminding me of the bedlam Charlie Chaplin wreaked on the upper crust in films such as “City Lights” and “Modern Times.”
There are also surreal and downright creepy moments throughout, most of them taking place in the girls’ apartment. Even there, within the confines of the tiny space, everything the girls do seems like a smack in the face to society’s expectations, as the girls slice, burn, eat, dance, and even sleep with restless abandon.
An Amazing, Thought-Provoking Film
Oddly enough, in 1966, what angered the communist government most about the film and got it banned was how the girls wasted so much food in their relentless gluttony and destruction, thus proving the other message of the film — that people will get angrier over a head of lettuce being wasted than thousands of people dying on a battlefield.
“Daisies” works as both a powerful uppercut to the patriarchy and as pure entertainment. You’ll laugh at times, feel uncomfortable occasionally and maybe be a bit puzzled at moments too, but you’ll never be bored with this amazing and thought-provoking film.
“Daisies” is available to watch or rent on HBO Max, Apple TV, the Criterion Channel, and others.
