Elizabeth T. has chosen Miloš Forman’s LOVES OF A BLONDE for “Classic IFC Center” series
LOVES OF A BLONDE (LÁSKY JEDNÉ PLAVOVLÁSKY) (Miloš Forman, 1965)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Friday, June 10, through Sunday, June 12, 11:00 am
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
Released a few years before the Summer of Love and Prague Spring, Miloš Forman’s Loves of a Blonde is a very funny romantic black comedy that also has a lot to say about women’s burgeoning sexual freedom. The delightful Hanu Brejchovou stars as Andula, a young factory worker whose sexual liberation is ahead of its time in an old-fashioned small town. When a trainload of military reservists arrives, most of the single women do their best to attract the uniformed men at a big party, but Andula is more interested in pianist Milda (Vladimíra Pucholta). In a scene for the ages, three men try to pick up Andula and her two friends, with hysterical results. Later, when Andula visits Milda in Prague, she meets the piano player’s parents (Milada Jezková and Josef Sebánek), who are a droll riot. A Czech New Wave classic that evokes Godard and Truffaut, Loves of a Blonde, which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, caused a sensation when it played the New York Film Festival and introduced Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus) to the world. Notably, assistant director and cowriter Ivan Passer, who also worked with Forman on The Firemen’s Ball, defected to America following Prague Spring and went on to make such films as Born to Win and Cutter’s Way. Loves of a Blonde is screening June 10-12 at 11:00 in the morning in the “Classic IFC Center” series, in which members of the staff select personal favorites; this one was chosen by Elizabeth T. in membership. The series continues June 17-19 with Alfonso Cuarón’s A Little Princess before concluding June 24-26 with Susan Seidelman’s Desperately Seeking Susan.