Emotional History: The Making of 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being'

Emotional History: The Making of 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being'

  • Overview
  • Cast
  • Crew

Status

Released

Release Date

Feb 7, 2006

Runtime

0h 30m

Genres

Documentary

Original Title

Emotional History: The Making of 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being'

Production Companies

Leva FilmWorks

Director

Gary Leva

Description

Milan Kundera's rambling novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being, though greatly admired, was thought by Hollywood studio executives to be "unfilmable." Director Philip Kaufman and producer Saul Zaentz proved them wrong. Emotional History follows Kaufman and Zaentz as they enlist the help of screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière and legendary film editor Walter Murch to turn the Kundera novel into an imaginative exploration of politics and eroticism, set against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia. Our documentary goes in-depth to discover how indelible moments in the film - Lena Olin kneeling on a dressing mirror; Russian tanks invading Prague; Juliette Binoche photographing her boyfriend's nude mistress; became a part of cinematic history.