Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful, wonderful
Review: This is a wonderful, wonderful film - one of my top ten favorites of all time. The writing, the action, the direction are all world-class. The Criterion DVD is a beautiful presentation of this masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Criterion DVD
Review: I own both the Criterion DVD and the Orion VHS and both are the original theatrical version of the film. The DVD the previous comment refers to may be a bootleg copy of the Criterion DVD.
Rating:
Summary: question
Review: This is one of my all time favorite movies. One question. A previous reviewer said don't buy the DVD because it was missing scenes. Was he refering to the Criterion Collection version?
Rating: 
Summary: Buy the VHS, not the DVD
Review: There are other reviews about the actual plot of the movie so I won't comment on it. Different people have differing opinions -- Some people say the movie is less complete than the book. Movies usually are, in my opinion. I gave this movie three stars because of the DVD edition. I was very excited about getting this movie on DVD because I really liked the VHS version. The picture quality was great, but the DVD is missing scenes!!! Don't buy this DVD .. wait for a complete version to come out.
Rating:
Summary: Unbearably sad film......
Review: I don't know what Kundera was trying to say in his book, and reading all the reviews others have written I am persuaded we are like the blind (wo)men and the elephant. Each has his or her own interpretation. I didn't like Kundera's book, I found it silly, disjointed, and boastful. Perhaps I could find some meaning in it if I set my mind to the task. I'm pretty good at assigning meaning when there is none. Perhaps the book suffered in translation. Perhaps one had to experience the coffee houses of Prague during the spring to understand. Philip Kaufman's film THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING is wonderful and awfully sad. The film is wonderful because of the three main actors: Daniel Day Lewis, Lena Olin, and Juliette Binoche. In THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING DDL plays Tomas a doctor with women on his mind--another character for his diverse vita. BEING is about beautiful young people who seem unfulfilled as human beings until it is too late. I was young and restless once--in the 1960s--and I think it's very hard to be happy when you are young. You suffer from these foolish notion that you can change the world--or you can't. You start revolutions--or you don't. Mostly, you try to figure out what the heck life is about. Tomas has frivolous things on his mind. Or does he. After all, procreation is the stuff of survival and he is just the right age to be at the mercy of his survival instincts. Does Tomas think of women too much? Is he a lothario or is he trying to find himself? I think Tomas is Tomas and you either like him or you don't. I don't think he thinks about woman more than any other man his age. If you're a woman, you get involved with Tomas or you don't. He does have a way with women. But, Tomas is not happy--he is a cynic until it is too late. Why does Tomas marry? Maybe underneath it all he wants a "regular" life. Or, maybe Tomas wants his cake and he wants to eat it too. Apparently, he wants a wife as he acquires one. And he wants to keep on seeing other women because he does. I am sure most of the men who saw this film and thought it was a very good film did so because they would like to be like Tomas or at least fantasize they are like Tomas. I am sure some of these very intelligent and educated men can find rationalizations for why this is a profound film. Actually, I think Philip Kaufman has his tongue in his cheek. HENRY AND JUNE (another of his films) is simply the reverse of THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING. Anais Nin wanted to have her cake and eat it too. She wanted a husband and a full range of sexual experiences with other men (and women). Apparently she did just that. Nin's diaries are much more explict than Kundera's books and good bedtime reading. Nin started a revolution--for women. I recommend HENRY AND JUNE. Uma Thurman is wonderful as June and Kevin Spacey also stars in this very funny film, though he is not Henry Miller. TROPIC OF CANCER--now there's a book they ought to ban in Boston.
Rating: 
Summary: Moving, But Incomplete
Review: I didn't get this the first time I saw it, so I turned to Kundera's novel. This led me to the great adventure of all of Kundera's work, and he quickly became one of my favorite writers. I rewatched this again recently and was much more impressed this time around. Day-Lewis is perfect as Tomas, the sardonic Lothario. Olin is blood-boiling as Sabina, the incarnation of freedom. And Binoche is captivating as Terersa, the woman for whom Tomas gives up everything. This a stirring, heartbreaking movie. The only problem is that it lacks Kundera's inimitable *voice*, the witty, erudite mini-essays he uses to iluustrate his philosophical points. Kaufman tries to recapitulate that voice in one or two lines of dialogue, but is doesn't work as well. By all means, see this fine film. But don't miss Kundera's original classic.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Best
Review: I've probably watched a thousand movies over more decades than I wish to acknowledge. Of these many films, two outshine all the rest (though for very different reasons): My Fair Lady, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Enough said.
Rating:
Summary: This one is for people who THINK as well as FEEL
Review: Having read several of the more negative reviews about Philip Kaufman's masterpiece (even better than his more popular but engaging "The Right Stuff") I wonder WHY people with little intelligence bother to watch this film! Certainly, it takes some concentration, intelligence, and intellectual curiosity to enable enjoyment of this remarkable story, virtues these negative "reviewers" obviously don't possess. This is a great film, beautifully and sensitively acted, written, directed, and photographed. Everything about it glows with the talents of cinematic artists who know how to deliver a magnificant entertainment that not only allows the viewer to feel deeply, but also to ponder deep questions about politics as well as human relationships. And by the way, I'm not against negative or even hostile reviews of movies, or anything for that matter, but I do ask that those who give such reviews first know what they are talking about and have some degree of intelligence to enable what they are saying to have some credibility. Otherwise, keep your idiotic opinions to yourselves and save others the bother of reading tripe.
Rating: 
Summary: The unbearable lightness of being
Review: This is already my favorite movie for at least ten years, from the first time I saw it. It is a movie about an unsettled men who lives life lightly, but is also in love. Slowly he is adapting to a life with only one woman, the one he loves. The very romantic and chalenging movie is set in Chechie around 1965 somewhere.
Rating:
Summary: An investigation into the nature of relationships
Review: Why do we commit to one another? Do we really know? Would a life of independence and detachment be better? Both analytical and powerfully moving, this movie deals with these questions. At first seeming light and slightly intellectual, the movie evolves into something more felt than thought. The film shows what is going on without telling the viewer in words. This is a story about the nature of love in all its human forms. It is a heavy story that stays with you. Not for those not in touch with their inner self or who object to some tasteful nudity.
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