The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) is Philip Kaufman's adaptation of Milan Kundera's novel — watch it online on iFILM. Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, and Lena Olin play three people caught between desire, politics, and Prague in the summer of 1968.

Tomas is a surgeon who has turned casual affairs into an art form: multiple women, no overnight stays, no entanglements. Then Tereza arrives from the countryside with a book under her arm and changes everything. He brings her to Prague, falls into something that looks like love, and marries her — while continuing to see Sabina, the painter who has always understood the rules of their arrangement. When Soviet tanks roll into the city, all three end up in Geneva. But exile doesn't simplify anyone. Sabina moves on. Tereza, unable to bear the rootless freedom of Switzerland, goes back. Tomas follows — and in doing so steps out of the lightness he spent his whole life protecting.

Kaufman shot the film with cinematographer Sven Nykvist; the picture earned two Oscar nominations, including one for adapted screenplay. It runs 171 minutes and never rushes. Stream The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) online on iFILM.