Why so much hype?

Am I Missing Something?

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

This evening, my wife and I will attend a performance of "Lásky jedné plavovlásky" at a local theater, so I wanted to watch this film as preparation. My wife grew up in Communist Czechoslovakia. I immigrated here 25 years ago, and we've been married for 21 years.The first 99% of the film disgusted me. I rated it 1/10. After the final 1%, I thought to myself, "Oh, that's the point they were trying to make". I raised the rating to 2/10.THE FIRST 99%My reactions jumped from...Andula is a slut. Why do I want to watch a movie about a slut? "Loves of a Blonde", huh? Well, in Czech culture, a "blonde female" has the same derogatory connotation as elsewhere.toThis film reminds me of Milan Kundera's book "The Unbearable Lightness of Being". Everyone claims it's a classic, but it lacks actual classical substance.toUtter disgust at one event after another:* A man removes his wedding ring with the intent of committing adultery; * Three middle-aged soldiers try to force three young women to get drunk; * Andula tells Milda that she previously tried to kill herself (with a razor blade that broke? yeah, right); * More than one instance of a man trying to take advantage of a young woman in emotional distress; * Milan's attempted rape of Andula; * Milan rolling up the window shade while unknowingly revealing his "package"Warped, perverted, and 12 other words with the same meaning. In this film, men treat women horribly. They act like lascivious lechers. I haven't seen such behavior in Czechoslovakia. In general, men treat women quite well (that's why feminism has never gained traction here).Oh, by the way, dialog in this film is idiotic and insipid.GOOD ASPECTS OF THE FILMThe film has some good scenes, including the loss of the wedding ring at the dance as well as Milda and his parents arguing in bed together.CONCLUSIONIf you want to view truly excellent films about pleasant, simplistic life in Communist Czechoslovakia, see Jiří Menzel's "My Sweet Little Village" and "The Snowdrop Festival".

'Lasky jedne plavovlasky', from 1965, fully breathes the excellence Czech films are renowned for.However, understanding this film requires knowledge about everyday life in the Communist Czechoslovakia of 1965. Which is complete history by now, and must be hard to understand for those born after the Communist era.In the Communist societies of Europe the state dictated where your job was. The margins to influence this decision were small or non-existent. For many working class-women this meant a lifelong condemnation to some drab provincial town. Being married to an overworked, insensitive husband who often took refuge to alcohol.So it's not surprising that many young women went to extremes to avoid such a future. Having sex with every man that might get them out was among these; all this happened when the pill did not exist and condoms were clumsy & crude, if available.Such a desperate urge makes the backbone of 'Lasky jedne plavovlasky'. Apart from that, there can be only praise for its acting, its setting, its psychology and its shooting. No doubt this film should rank among the greatest, if not for its subject: Communism isn't something people like to remember.

It is true but sad that no one in the world would have known about a small Czech town named Zruc if Czech director Milos Forman had not made this film.It is a good thing that he has made it as its fresh appeal would ensure that it is remembered as a supreme example of a famous cinema movement of the sixties called Czech new wave."Lásky jedné Plavovlásky" is a touching film about sad realities, disappointments in love faced by innocent people when they pursue an idle romantic relationship.It is based on a real event which took place in Milos Forman's life when at Prague he saw a beautiful albeit a lost girl roaming in the middle of the night.We see the lives of young people especially young girls who feel bored as there is hardly any male companionship available to them.As this film was made in socialist times we also get to see the attitude of parents belonging to a socialist system.Milos Forman makes his film memorable when he deals with risks which young people take when they fall in live.He conveys that it is not so easy to continue a relationship which has remained frivolous from its inception.Loves of a blonde maintains it serious stance as there is a talk of a serious problem of dwindling male female ratio faced by many European nations.One of the most funny moments of this film include a good social experiment when an army unit is asked to move to Zruc in order to woo its lonely girls.

Milos Forman's Loves of a Blonde is a wonderful movie...sweet and awful. Sweet, because Forman gives us no one we can dislike as he tells us the story of Andula (Hana Brejchova), a young factory worker in the depressing town of Zruc, making endless pairs of shoes alongside dozens of other young women. Not Milda (Vladimir Puchott), the young piano player who comes to town with a band, seduces Andula, and then leaves for Prague. Not the factory bosses, or the other young women who are bored and eager for husbands (they outnumber the men 16 to one). Not even the regiment of aging, smoking, unattractive soldiers who were based in Zruc to lower the odds a bit. Not Milda's parents, who one day find Andula at their apartment door, suitcase in hand, because she gave her heart to Milda and took him seriously when he told her to come visit him in Prague sometime. And awful, in a desperate sort of way, because Forman let's us see the lives all these people live in a Communist society that is petty, officious and incompetent. We can smile at a lecture an older woman gives the young factory girls about maintaining their honor and dignity with boys; we can even smile when two young leaders stand up and call for a vote to dedicate all of them to this idea; and we can smile when every girl in the room raises her hand to vote in favor, none against and none abstaining. Then we realize it might not be a good idea to snicker at a vote in favor of honor when a boss thinks it would be a good idea. There are two long set pieces in the movie that are terrific. The first is a dance in town, held by officials so that the soldiers can meet the girls. We move around with the camera, listening in to the appalled girls as they really see these desperate, coarse guys, and listening to the guys as they eye the girls, drink for courage and, in one case, surreptitiously remove a wedding ring and then dropping it on the floor for all to see. There's that safe, chirpy dance music...the angling to get a girl to take a walk in the woods...the possibility that the bored girl will agree. The second set piece is in Milda's apartment in Prague. Andula has arrived unannounced. Milda is playing with the band at a nightspot and there are only Milda's parents to welcome her. And welcome they don't. They've heard nothing about her. It's clear Milda is in for a surprise when he gets home that night. Milda's mother is not someone you'd want for a mother-in-law. Milda's father is more realistic but not exactly comforting. Their apartment is a living space of ancient appliances, chipped paint and doilies. The nagging opinions of the mother and the exasperated gruffness from the father make us smile. Of course, they have the opposite effect on Andula, who now is close to tears. Forman seems to be quietly pointing out to us what living in Communist Czechoslovakia has come to mean. Poor Andula. Will she have a happy future with Milda? Or will she return to Zruc...wiser, perhaps, but with nothing better ahead for her. Watch the movie and hope for the best. Andula a nice person. Loves of a Blonde is so poignant and sweet it hurts a little. Forman used mainly non-actors for most the roles and he had a genius for either eliminating their self-consciousness or for making it work in the context of the story. The movie at the basic level of story-telling is effective because the people, from Andula to the bit parts of people at the dance, look and act like people who aren't acting. We wind up liking most of them and feeling indulgent toward the rest. The Communist regime eventually caught on to the picture of life in Czechoslovakia which Forman presented with such apparent good humor in Loves of a Blonde and The Firemen's Ball. It was happy to see Forman leave the country during the crackdown in 1968. Anyone who thinks Forman, when he came to America, lost his subversive sympathy for people who are at the mercy of institutions and governments needs to watch One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ragtime or The People vs. Larry Flynt.