A Czech New Wave film that feels dated but has its moments

The 1963 Czech “New Wave” film Something Different, the debut of director Vera Chytilova, feels dated and heavy-handed today, but it’s still worth watching as a glimpse into the lives of people in Eastern Europe in the 1960s. The film tells two parallel stories: Eva, a famous Olympian gymnast, in training for her final competition (the gymnast Eva Bosakova plays herself) and a young mother/housewife, Vera, struggles w/ the difficulty of raising a child in the cramped and uncomfortable conditions that even so-called professional families endured (her kitchen, her apartment, look nothing like an American or western European kitchen would have looked like in that era), and in particular with the indifference of her obtuse husband. We get the message: the housewife’s life is as difficult and challenging as the life of the superstar athlete, and the athlete endures pain and fear and even humiliation (by her male coaches) as she pushes herself to perfect ever more difficult feats. The film would be stronger if either segment had more of a plot – the Vera sections in particular, in which the extramarital affairs (of both husband and wife) feel tacked on and not really credible – though her confrontation w/ her husband at the conclusion is the emotional high, or low, point. As to Eva, seeing her as a coach to a young athlete, at the end, is even more satisfying than watching her triumphant performance: Supportive, rather than abusive, coaching is the answer, across the board.