Spotlight Home Media Pick of the Week: Daisies

Daisies, a Czech film from the 1960s, directed by the first lady of Czech cinema Vera Chytilova. A film in many ways that is so absurd that to try and describe the film in anyway to a person who has not seen the film, will make that person think you belong in a looney bin.

Yet I am going to try give a brief synopsis of the film. Yes some of my friends do I think I belong in the looney bin. It's the 1960s and society has expectations on women. The expectation is to settle down, get married, and become subservient to her husband. The expectations also means acting certain ways in public and dressing in a certain manner.

To the two main characters, Marie I and Marie II, who are besties for life and young adults they hate these expectations. The Maries are going to do what they want, how they want to, and when they want to. The girls are not afraid to make fun of these zombie like women. Honestly, they are scared for their day of reckoning whenever it will come.

Honestly, I really don't need to give much more of a synopsis. The film in many ways is a kick in the nards to the expectations men put on women during that period. Chytilova just wanted to show absurd women were accepting of these expectations during the time. Why let yourself become  a depressed zombie subservient to man?

The film a psychedelic new wave experience, with no major plot. That honestly  just says  Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Ironically Cyndi Lauper could have easily passed as a Marie in this film.

Daisies was for the longest time only available in an Eclipse boxset packaged with a bunch of other films for the Region 1 market. Making it somewhat of a harder film to get individually unless you had a setup that could play any region or you wanted to fork over the money for a dvd set in which you may have only wanted to see one film.

That officially changed a few weeks back with Second Run's Blu Ray release of Daisies. Second Run's release can play in all Blu Ray players. The film recieved a new HD Scan transfer, and clean up from the original materials. In my opinion, finally getting the love it deserves. Some of the great special features is a documentary on Vera Chytilova and an audio commentary done by the Daughters of Darkness podcast Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan two women who are as mischievous as the two Maries.

Daisies while maybe not widely known, is the most important film of 20th century that focuses on and tackles society's unreal expectations  on women. Daisies should be experienced by everyone at least once in their life.

Daisies is that rare film that gets a 10/10 from me.