238 - Loves of a Blonde, 1965, Czechoslovakia. Dir. Milos Forman.

Saturday, August 26, 2017

238 - Loves of a Blonde, 1965, Czechoslovakia.  Dir. Milos Forman.

When you hear the name Milos Forman, you may think of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and its sweeping of the Oscars for the first time in thirty-one years--since 1934's It Happened One Night.

Cuckoo's Nest swept by winning the five categories of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay (Adapted).  This would happen one more time with The Silence of the Lambs (1991).  These films remain the only three to have won these five awards.

Cuckoo's Nest was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Brad Dourif), Best Cinematography (Haskell Wexler), Best Editing, and Best Original Musical Score.

When you think of Milos Forman, you may also think of Amadeus (1984), with its similar triumph of 8 Oscar wins.  Amadeus won for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction, and Best Make-Up.

It was also nominated for Best Actor (Tom Hulce), Best Cinematography (Miroslav Ondricek), and Best Editing.  Yes, it had two actors competing against one another for Best Actor--Tom Hulce and F. Murray Abraham--and none in the Best Supporting Actor category.

Forman also made the rock musical Hair (1979), a Dangerous Liaisons adaptation called Valmont (1989), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), and Man on the Moon (1999), the biography of Andy Kaufman as portrayed by Jim Carrey.

But before all of that--

Milos Forman was a leader of the Czech New Wave.

Like the French New Wave (Nouvelle Vaugue), the Czech New Wave ushered in a new generation of filmmakers who focused on the intended realistic portrayals of real life as they new it.  They made use of improvisation and non-professional actors.  They also had access to studios and a knack for narrative structure.  The Czech New Wave had the additional burden of triumphing against Communism.

In 1965, Milos Forman came out with Loves of a Blonde.

In a Czechoslovakian town, the girls outnumber the boys 16 to 1!  The local factory is composed mostly of girls, and the foreman observes that they could use a boost to morale.  He speaks to an army officer.  The officer arranges for some maneuvers to bring men in, and the factory hosts a dance. The majority of the men who attend, however, are older.  And married.

A few of them try their luck anyway.  One removes his wedding ring.  As he tries to sneak it into his pocket, it falls and rolls across the floor and under the table of the girls he is watching.  He foolishly follows it under the table, and the girls pour wine down his back.

The dance is largely unsuccessful.  Two people, however, do hook up: Milda and Andula.

Milda is a young man who plays the piano in the band.  Andula is the girl who is telling this story, with changes, as a flashback to her girlfriend.

Milda flirts with Andula at the dance.  He reads her palm.  He shows her how to fend off unwanted suitors.  He takes her home.  At first she resists him.  Then she decides she trusts him.

He comically tries to close the window shade, but it keeps rolling back up on him.

Eventually, they make love and talk.  The next morning he leaves.  Offhandedly, he says, Come up to Prague and visit sometime.  He does not mean it.

She does.

She arrives at his house and knocks on his door.  His parents answer.  They invite her in.  The three of them have an uncomfortably awkward conversation.  He returns home.  He is surprised to see her.

The parents decide to host her on the couch and force their son to sleep in their bed to ensure that no shenanigans ensue.

She overhears them arguing through the door and realizes that she is unwanted.  She leaves in tears.

She tells her friends of her successful adventure as she returns to work the next day.

The film is a slice of life with honest and comic portrayals of the yearnings for love.

Forman was influenced by his having met a real girl arriving in Prague with a suitcase, with a similar story.

He himself had grown up looking for his own mother, who had been taken away from him when he was 10.  Both of his parents, as he knew them, died in concentration camps.