Milos Forman, Loves of a Blonde / Lásky jedné plavovlásky (Czechoslovakia, 1966)

Another example of the Czech New Wave, Loves of a Blonde demonstrates influences of the French New Wave. The looser narrative structure and the camera as participant observer as opposed to the disconnected recorder of plot points allows for a more intimate relationship with the characters or study of human behavior. As can be noted in the banquet scenes, the camera watches the characters in action capturing all the details of every day life, as it were, as if the camera's eye was my own. Another influence of the French New wave can be noted in the way in which Forman vaguely connects plot strands. The film opens with a strange gender switch. A slightly boyish looking girl plays an acoustic song which is clearly written by a boy and is about the pursuit of a girl. Then the film cuts to Andula pining over the boy in the photograph as she lays in bed with a friend. Then suddenly it's the arrival of the old men from war and the banquet scenes in which they attempt to seduce the young girls which leads to the Andula and Milda action. The loosening of the narrative draws attention to the film as art and not a bit of romanticized reality meant for an hour and a half of fantasy indulgence and escape from reality. The film interrupts itself and lingers which allows space for contemplation on behalf of the audience.

The compositions of the frames allude to a painting and draws out the beauty of the cinematography. Again the French New Wave influence is suggested in the self-consciousness of the film and its experimental form. The film tells about the aesthetics of naturalism but at once dwells on itself wallowing in the feeling of endless romanticism. Andula herself, stands in for the nostalgia of enchantment as she falls for Milda's seduction and then leaves her town to seek her beloved traveling pianist wherever he may be. The injustice of seduction is soon revealed as Andula enters the mundane world at Milda's parents' flat complete with the nagging of the bitter mother, I myself was palm-to-forehead frustrated with, and the cruel indifference Milda expresses behind her back.

During one of the opening scenes, Andula dresses the forest in formal ties and the older man explains to her that she should stop because this will startle the deer. A quirky dynamic but already Forman is preparing us for the startling clash when pleasing or charming artifice of formality is introduced to natural settings and innate or animistic impulse. The story never deals directly with the psychology behind the tenderness between Andula and Milda. However, it conjures both the rapture of romanticism and maturation, which leads only to disappointment. Milda talks to his father about the girl as if she was a forgettable one night stand but both the argument that he feigns arrogant masculine apathy to convince his father that he is a Man, or the argument that he is genuinely a womanizing jerk, can be made. What rhymes with an obvious and sentimental story concludes with a rather open ending. With ambiguous motives and conclusions for each character, The Loves of a Blonde brings out the audience's preconceptions. The film turns its back just before the narrative's denouement and we are tempted to jump into the story with our delusions of accomplishment. Do we prefer happy endings where the boy really does love the girl he seduced? Or do we face the reality of fleeting romantic love and Milda capitalizes on his charming good looks to move on and use more girls?

And what about the tyrannical censors? The Loves of a Blonde could be a stand in for films about political strife, replacing the ebb and flow of autocratic power with the cycle of romanticism/imagination/ and defeat/disappointment/cruel realities. One can argue that TheLoves of a Blonde parallels the clashes of political movements. The cycling binaries line right up: artistic expression/film making without thematic limits and defeat/misfortune/tyrannical censorship/etc. Again, this is another feature of the French New Wave because within this movement of films, one can see that socio-political contexts are vaguely discernible or entirely avoided.