Daisies (1966)—by Czechoslovakian new wave filmmaker Vera Chytilová—was a breakthrough in feminist filmmaking. It’s screening at the Institute of Modern Art to complement our current exhibition Confronting Femininity, curated by Sal Edwards and Robert Leonard.

Daisies follows the anarchic exploits of two doll-like young women, both called Marie, as they play pranks on gullible older men, conspicuously consume, and speculate on their existence. Their hedonism and irresponsibility was a rebuff to the bleakness of life in Czechoslovakia, and the film infuriated the communist officials and was banned for the wanton waste of its food fights and milk baths. (The Prague Spring was still two years away.) The film is a biting attack on conformity and petty-bourgeois narrow mindedness.

Daisies is remarkable for its visual inventiveness and disorienting special effects—Chytilová was out to break as many rules as her heroines. It marked the beginning of her collaboration with Ester Krumbachová, who contributed to the eccentric costumes and script. Cinematographer Jaroslav Kucera was key to the film’s experimental collage-like aesthetic. Now over fifty years old, Daisies is a time capsule from which to consider feminism here and now.

Duration: 74 minutes

Spaces limited. Bookings recommended.

Language: Czech with English subtitles.