The Unbearable lightness of being

United States, 1988

Film
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Tomas is a master of seduction. To him women are for pleasure and Sabina is the ultimate, a free spirit like himself. Life is blissfully simple until Tomas meets the young and innocent Tereza who awakens in him a tenderness he never knew possible. But it is 1968 and as the Russian tanks roll into Prague Tomas is forced to make choices; between love of his country and his yearning for freedom, between desire for Sabina and devotion to the ever-faithful Tereza. Adapted from the novel by Milan Kundera, the film stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

Philip Kaufman

producer

Saul Zaentz

production company

Orion Pictures Corporation

Saul Zaentz

Duration

02:45:00:00

Production places
United States
Production dates
1988

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

302981

Language

English

Audience classification

MA

Subject categories

Adaptations

Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Adultery

Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Interpersonal conflict

Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Seduction

Feature films

Feature films → Feature films - United States

Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Interpersonal conflict

Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Love

History → Czech Republic - History - Intervention, 1968

Literature → Czech literature - Film and video adaptations

Literature → Literature

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

Wikidata

Q1122571

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

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If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/81855--the-unbearable-lightness-of-being/ |title=The Unbearable lightness of being |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=5 July 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}