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Fruit of Paradise

Fruit of Paradise

1970
Drama
1h 39m
Vera Chytilova, a key member of the Czech New Wave, directs a surrealistic fable based on the Adam and Eve story. A modern couple vacationing at a spa eats forbidden fruit, sending the wife on an obsessive search for a dangerous killer. (facets.org)
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Fruit of Paradise

1970
Drama
1h 39m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 53.85% from 108 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(108)
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Rated 09 Aug 2007
43
31st
After the dazzling beginning, I have to admit it took me a while to figure out that the movie is actually not about Adam and Eve. Anyway it really didn't blow me away the way Daisies did. It's just as artsy and intellectual as Dasies but only about 60% as erotic, 40% as crazy and 20% as humorous. This one really takes itself way too seriously and that just spoiled it for me... I couldn't follow, lost interest, wasn't amused... Chytilova disappoints.
Rated 22 Mar 2008
66
28th
A modern retelling of the Garden of Eden. Vera Chytilová again utilizes very unusual and interesting techniques, and veers away from a straightforward narrative, but this one doesn't have the same fun, freewheeling spirit as Daisies. Instead it gets bogged down with almost Maya Deren-esque imagery, and the threads it follows are rarely as engaging as they could be. I liked some parts (especially the wild intro) but it needs more oomph.
Rated 07 Oct 2016
8
97th
with knowledge comes acceptance of worldly insanity. this film doesn't really mean much as a biblical allegory, but is otherwise one of the most extraordinary marriages of sound and image i've ever seen. the opening, especially, was astonishing. zden?k liška needs a special award of some sort.
Rated 04 Apr 2012
48
45th
As many have said, a somewhat less playful and "fun" film than Daisies, though for my money it's also even more aesthetically innovative and in a sense more "mature". I'd be lying if i said it didn't somewhat wear out it's welcome at times, although at it's best it's nothing less than enchanting. Yet i have to admit that at this point i kind of feel like if you've seen one Czech New Wave film, you've sort of seen them all. It's definitely a neat aesthetic in limited doses though.
Rated 18 Oct 2015
65
47th
I think that as a farfetched interpretation, the killer in red is the devil, he appears after they eat the fruit and indicates that devil is the key to knowledge; you can't reach knowledge without wrestling or collaborating with him, and in this context, women should explore the devil in themselves to beat the men; in ancient Greek eudaimonia (happiness) contains daimonia (devil) in itself which unveils the underlying meaning. However I found this film to be too loose & repetitive, not my taste.
Rated 27 Jun 2018
67
88th
If the entirety were like the breathtaking opening, this would be a 99th percentile score. The rest was good, I guess-- very trippy and sexual, and quite akin to Jean Rollin at his best. I "get" how it's trying to wield fairy tale and myth, I think, and it's certainly not as unbearably misogynist as shit like Borowczyk, but ideologically I really don't have the patience for this any more, tbh. Use of music was a bit obvious and non-dynamic [compare the end of COBRA VERDE (1987) for example].
Rated 18 Jan 2019
81
68th
Tive sentimentos díspares durante todo o filme, em alguns momentos pensava obra-prima!, enquanto em outros me vinha um meh!, o resultado geral é ótimo e apreciei deveras o uso da cor vermelha. Box Obras-primas do Cinema Vera Chytilová

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