• Sunday, Aug 9, 2026

    2 PM (171 mins)
    BAMPFA

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The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Philip Kaufman
United States, 1988

BAMPFA Collection

In Conversation

  • Vivien Hillgrove

    Vivien Hillgrove is a film editor of The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

  • Pat Jackson

    Pat Jackson, a sound designer and editor who teaches in San Francisco State University’s Cinema Department, was originally Walter Murch’s assistant on The Conversation and later worked with him on The Godfather: Part II, Apocalypse Now, The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Jarhead.

featuring

Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Erland Josephson,

This adaptation of Milan Kundera’s novel chronicles the intersecting affairs of a philandering surgeon, Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis); a free-spirited artist, Sabina (Lena Olin); and an earnest waitress/photographer, Tereza (Juliette Binoche), leading up to and in the aftermath of the 1968 Prague Spring. With cinematography by Sven Nykvist, a script cowritten by Luis Buñuel collaborator Jean-Claude Carrière, editing by Walter Murch, and documentary footage of the invasion by Czech New Wave director Jan Němec, The Unbearable Lightness of Being elegantly depicts the collision of human hope and desire with soul-crushing totalitarianism.

FILM DETAILS 

Screenwriter

  • Philip Kaufman
  • Jean-Claude Carrière

Based On

  • the novel by Milan Kundera

Cinematographer

  • Sven Nykvist

Print Info

  • Color
  • 35mm
  • 171 mins

Source

  • BAMPFA

Permission

  • Teatro Della Pace Films

Event Accessibility

If you have any questions about accessibility or need accommodations to attend this event, please contact us at bampfa@berkeley.edu or (510) 642-1412 (Wed–Sun, 11 AM–7 PM) as soon as you can. Advance notice helps us fulfill your request.

Learn more about accessibility services at BAMPFA.