This is your world, and it’s a rotten, decadent playground where the only logical response to a spoiled society is to become completely, beautifully spoiled yourself.
The Setup
Two girls bored with the state of the world. A mutual decision to match the planet’s corruption. A riot of chaotic pranks that tear through polite society.
That’s it. That’s the whole manifesto.
Věra Chytilová takes us to the heart of the 1960s Czech New Wave, entirely bypassing conventional logic for a dazzling display of dadaist rebellion. Two young women, both named Marie, lounge in their apartment and observe that the world has gone bad. Rather than despairing, they decide to actively match this global rot, embarking on a spree of pure, unadulterated hedonism. From scamming older bourgeois men out of expensive meals to cutting up sausages in bed, they treat the world as their personal trash can. There are no traditional moral arcs or coming-of-age lessons here; there is only a joyous, wildly destructive assault on the institutions of patriarchy and social conformity.
The Experience
There are no linear storylines. There are no realistic sets. There is only a dizzying kaleidoscope of shifting color filters, fragmented paper-cut edits, and the magnificent, slow-motion destruction of a massive banquet table. Daisies (originally titled Sedmikrásky) crafts an atmosphere of pure, visual anarchy. Chytilová, along with her cinematographer husband Jaroslav Kučera, engineered a sensory overload that shifts from black-and-white to sepia to vibrant, oversaturated colors in the blink of an eye. The physical comedy of the two Maries is deeply subversive; they act like human puppets, treating food, consumerism, and historical structures with utter contempt. You aren’t just watching a film; you are experiencing a chaotic, candy-colored riot that actively breaks the rules of narrative cinema to liberate the screen.
It’s 74 minutes of uncompromising avant-garde filmmaking that stands as a monumental achievement of feminist cinema. The film functions as a beautiful, destructive performance art piece that targets the rigid structures of authoritarian society. The famous banquet scene—where the two Maries climb over a lavishly set table, stuffing themselves with cakes before engaging in a massive food fight—is as hilarious as it is profoundly radical. It is a sensory journey that asks you to let go of narrative expectations and revel in the sheer, explosive pleasure of cinematic rebellion.
Why You’ll Watch
You’ll watch because you need to witness one of the most daringly original and visually explosive films ever made—a feminist masterpiece that was banned for being too free.
Chytilová didn’t just direct a movie; she created a timeless symbol of political and artistic defiance. Daisies was infamously banned by the authoritarian Czechoslovak government, officially for its “extravagant waste of food,” but really because its spirit of total liberty was deeply threatening to state control. Led by the brilliantly deadpan, non-professional performances of Ivana Karbanová and Jitka Cerhová, the film remains a thrillingly modern celebration of female agency. It is a visual gut-punch that stays with you forever. By the time the screen is literally shredded, you won’t look at food, consumer society, or cinema’s boundaries the same way. You’ll hear the chaotic, polyphonic soundtrack, you’ll see the swirling patterns of the Maries’ paper-cut outfits, and you’ll realize you just witnessed a beautifully wild explosion of pure cinematic freedom.
Rating: 5 out of 5 of the Splattered Banquets.
