How A Film Taught Me To Break the Rules

How Věra Chytilová’s feminist Czech New Wave classic taught me to be a little bit braver.

We all have comfort movies. Sometime they’re trashy, or corny, or sometimes, in my current case, they’re chaotic Czech New Wave films. Recently, with the world going so bad for women everywhere (has it ever been good?) I’ve sought comfort in Daisies, a 1966 film by Věra Chytilová about two women who’ve decided the world has gone bad, so they want to go bad too. It compelled me to share an article I originally wrote about Daisies for Talkhouse in February. I hope you enjoy.

They say you should only go into entertainment if you absolutely cannot do anything else. Wanting is not enough to sustain such a painful existence. It must be a need.

I wanted to act the first time I saw a play (a high school production of Annie). I wrote my first screenplay when I was 13 (an adaptation of the novel Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen). A few years after that, I made my first short film, with my family’s camcorder. My passion was clear and unfailing. Just as unfailing was the fear. Nobody makes it …