{"id":5466,"date":"2015-04-29T04:18:36","date_gmt":"2015-04-29T03:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=5466"},"modified":"2015-05-02T13:23:52","modified_gmt":"2015-05-02T12:23:52","slug":"fruit-of-paradise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2015\/04\/29\/fruit-of-paradise\/","title":{"rendered":"Fruit of Paradise"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Fruit<\/a>
Fruit of Paradise<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\nFormat:<\/B> DVD

\nRelease date:<\/B> 13 April 2015

\nDistributor:<\/B> Second Run

\nDirector:<\/B> Věra Chytilová

\nWriters:<\/B> Věra Chytilová, Ester Krumbachová

\nCast:<\/B> Jitka Novákova, Karel Novak, Jan Schmid

\nOriginal title:<\/B> Ovoce stromu rajských jíme<\/i>

\nCzech Republic 1969

\n99 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Released in 1969, shortly after the Soviet invasion that crushed the Prague Spring, Fruit of Paradise<\/I> is inevitably more sombre than Daisies<\/I><\/a>, director Věra Chytilová\u2019s most famous film, made in 1966 at the height of the Czech New Wave. Both Daisies<\/I> and Fruit of Paradise<\/I> centre on women who refuse to follow the rules. Yet in Daisies<\/I>, two teenage girls giggle their way through their lives, refusing to take anything seriously, while Fruit of Paradise<\/I>, with its biblical basis, addresses matters of life and death and is shot through with genuine threat.<\/p>\n

The film opens with a lyrical rendition of the story of Adam and Eve. Composer Zdeněk Liška\u2019s haunting, mysterious score combines with a mesmerising sequence of images, the slowly moving figures of Adam and Eve overlaid with close-ups of flowers and leaves. The shifting colours, absence of dialogue and emphasis on bodies in movement evoke early cinema\u2019s hand-tinted shorts, such as Lumière\u2019s Serpentine Dance<\/I> (1896). The concern with visual innovation and pictorial composition, shared by Chytilová and cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera, is obvious, and links the film with Daisies<\/I>, which Kučera also photographed. But the playful spirit of the earlier film has been supplanted, here, by a more sober and pensive form of experimentation.<\/p>\n

After the opening sequence, the film takes an allegorical approach to the Adam and Eve theme. Key elements are still clearly identifiable: a central couple featuring a woman named Eva, an apple tree in a pastoral landscape, and a dangerous figure of temptation, here represented by Robert, a redhead in a maroon suit. Chytilová\u2019s most obvious adjustment to the story is in the nature of the three protagonists, and the dynamics of their relationship. Josef, Eva\u2019s husband, is a philanderer, so she is arguably within her rights to pursue a lover of her own, even if she seems ill-advised in her choice of the satanic Robert. <\/p>\n

Eva observes, with delight, how playfully Robert interacts with other women. Having thus subjected him to the female gaze, she continues her investigation of him, making off with the key to his room. There, she finds a rubber stamp of the (appropriately demonic) number 6, which she imprints on her thigh, a scene reminiscent of Jiří Menzel\u2019s Closely Observed Trains<\/I> (1966), where signalman Hubička stamps the secretary\u2019s bottom. Josef Somr, who played Hubička, actually does the voice-over for Josef in Fruit of Paradise<\/i>, while the voice of Robert is provided by Jan Klusák, who played the similarly sinister figures of the butterfly collector in Daisies<\/I> and the bullying host in The Party and the Guests<\/I><\/a>.<\/p>\n

This new Second Run DVD release also includes Chytilová\u2019s stylish graduation film, Ceiling<\/I>, a cinéma vérité<\/i>-style short about the life of a young model. It also features thorough liner notes by Czech New Wave expert Peter Hames, who provides all sorts of useful and intriguing insights into both films, their background and context.<\/p>\n

Alison Frank<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Released after the crushing of the Prague Spring, Chytilová\u2019s 1970 follow-up to Daisies<\/i> is as visually inventive but much darker in tone.
\nReview by Alison Frank<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,3],"tags":[173,1196,61,151,1170],"class_list":["post-5466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-check-it-out","category-dvds-and-blu-rays","tag-1960s-cinema","tag-biblical-film","tag-czech-cinema","tag-czech-new-wave","tag-vera-chytilova"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/purUP-1qa","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5418,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2015\/03\/22\/traps\/","url_meta":{"origin":5466,"position":0},"title":"Traps","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"March 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Czech New Wave director V\u011bra Chytilov\u00e1 offers a complex view of the consequences of rape in this dark satire. 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