"Something Different" (from 'Women in Focus') - (By Jeanne Betancourt - 1974) - Movies - http://maxpages.com/czechcinema/Something

'Both Eva and Vera are captives of quiet desperation while at the same time expressing a determination to shape their own separate destinies.' - Naome Gilburt, "To Be Our Own Muse: The Dialectics of Culture Heroine", "Women and Film", (Fall 1972), p. 28.
"Something Different" describes the lives of two Czech women: Vera Uzelac, housewife and mother, and Eva Bosakova, gymnast. Both are under continuous pressure from their jobs. Eva, supervised by a demanding male trainer, is restricted by the rigorous physical demands of training for the Olympics. Vera, bound by family responsibilities, is restricted by the continual demands of caring for husband and child. During the course of the film, each faces a crisis. Eva must push her physical strength and conquer her fear to do a difficult exercise. Vera, having gone into an affair, must choose between husband and lover. Having faced their respective crises, each goes back to her daily life- Vera staying within the family, Eva going from winning an Olympic gold medal to training a young gymnast.
The brilliance of the film is in the way the camerawork and editing reflect the story. As the film develops, the two lives are intercut with increasing rapidity, emphasizing the similarities between the two women. At times one woman will drop out of the frame as the other rises; one will turn her back as the other completes this gesture by facing the camera. Their similarity is also stressed by showing the repetitive structure of their activities. Eva has her training program with its repeated exercises; Vera has the smaller, but also redundant, tasks of child rearing and house cleaning. Both are confined physically- Vera by the physical barriers of walls, halls, doors; Eva by the spaces of the studio. In watching the comparisons, I sensed that Chytilova respects Eva's role more than Vera's. Or at least finds it more appealing. The gestures of her training are grander than Vera's scrubbing vegetables or picking up children's toys; winning the Olympics is more positive than giving up a lover.
Watching Eva's exercises is really a visual treat. Chytilova does not confine her within the frame. She has her in the spaces beyond the screen, kicking into our vision, then out again, rising with jumps up into an empty frame, then out again. This is in marked contrast to the smaller movements of the housewife, which are diminished by the narrowing of the screen space by doors, walls, and furniture. Also, though Eva is pushed to the breaking point by exhaustion and fear, there is a surge of victory and the glory of the public arena at the Olympics. Vera has only the memory of her affair and the renunciation of that love in order to keep her marriage together. It is as if Filmmaker, Vera, and Viewer are asked to admit that indeed the demands and activities of housewife and mother are of their very nature more confining and frustrating than many public careers.
'At the end we feel the two women have more to unite than divide them. If one has more to show for her moment of triumph than the other, they both ultimately take responsibility for the decision and their lives.' - Molly Haskell, "Village Voice", June 29, 1972.
"Something Different" is a good film for college-level classes and older. Since the lifestyles and demands that they make are so carefully exposed, it is particularly good for psychology and sociology classes. A must for women studies.
(Copyright - Jeanne Betancourt)

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