FRUIT OF PARADISE
Symposium
In this re-staging of the Genesis myth, the protagonists Josef and Eva are on vacation in a health resort but find themselves drawn into temptation by the Mephistophelian figure of Robert. Released in Czechoslovakia in 1970 after premiering at Cannes, FRUIT OF PARADISE was Věra Chytilová’s last work before her seven-year politically imposed hiatus from film production under the “normalization” policies of Gustáv Husák. It is also one of her most experimental works, a psychedelic fever-dream that opens itself up to an array of allegorical interpretations.
In this re-staging of the Genesis myth, the protagonists Josef and Eva are on vacation in a health resort but find themselves drawn into temptation by the Mephistophelian figure of Robert. Released in Czechoslovakia in 1970 after premiering at Cannes, FRUIT OF PARADISE was Věra Chytilová’s last work before her seven-year politically imposed hiatus from film production under the “normalization” policies of Gustáv Husák. It is also one of her most experimental works, a psychedelic fever-dream that opens itself up to an array of allegorical interpretations.
