All language subtitles for Chytilova.Versus.Forman.1982.720p.WEB.AAC.x264-LYCANTROPE

Stand by!

Enjoy the party, it's 1906.

And... action!

Step back, please.

It's over there.

Cut!

Come on, one more...

"Una más!
That's Spanish for number one.

Quicker on the sticks for this one.

Why do you want me
to generalize?

Now I'm content.

In five minutes, I'll be furious.

and in ten minutes I'm content again.

It changes like that. You know that.

Tell me one more thing,

you're gonna be shooting
a new scene tonight...

-Yeah.
-What are the main ideas of the scene?

One main idea.

Just to shoot it.
Just to shoot it...

Just to finish...
It's in the script.

What matters...
It's not an important scene.

It's not a very important
scene... it shows...

shows a world into which
Evelyn Nesbit enters

after Harry K. Thaw

has been sentenced
to a mental asylum.

She is surrounded by
sleazy agents and managers.

They are dragging her
into a different world.

Away from the younger brother.

I want to know the meaning.
The inner meaning.

Essence? Charm...

Charm, music, the girl...

That's not the inner meaning.

That’s not the meaning... the inner...
that cannot escape from this shot...

- Is it exclusively the story?
- Yes

Yes.

I think so.

That way it’s impossible...
you’re not a story director,

- But why...
- You're an auteur director...

Why didn't you say so
before the shooting!

I could have improved it.
Now it's too late.

Now I have to film what's
in the script.

This is the worst time
to talk theoretically.

Absolutely worst time
to speak theoretically.

It’s always the same!
We speak later...

Surely you know what
your intention is.

No, not during the shooting.

All you are concentrating on...

But you must know
what you want.

You always have to be aware
of what is important and what is not.

Or you'd lose
consciousness of continuity.

Consciousness of continuities.

Because at the outset,

it is necessary to be conscious
of the continuities,

whether they are
negative or positive.

It is necessary to take account of
parallel actions.

and to be aware of tradition.

These things provide an overall view.

embracing a wide horizon.

Play! Play! Play!

Cut!

Something's strange.

We start with you
hitting the strings.

You come here,

you say "Play!"
and you stay there.

Here. You stay there.

When they are playing,

very slowly, you turn around
and move forward. OK?

After completing his studies in Prague
in the 1960s,

Milos Forman became the major
representative of the Czechoslovak New Wave.

with films like The Ace of Spades,

Loves of a Blonde,
and Fireman's Ball.

The success of his films catapulted him
into the arms of Carlo Ponti.

But the stronghold quickly loosened
when it became evident

that Milos's mind could be
neither kneeded or crushed.

His strong will did not even break
when he encountered foreign toughness.

One more. Ready!

Milos, I have to call my waiters
before you yell background for Mike.

Stand by!

Talking.

And... the first waiter.

Mike.

Play! Play!

Play!

You couldn't hear him?

That took him three times
to yell "Play!".

Once you hear play, you turn around
and react.

Mike, go again.

Get ready!

There was only a slight crack in him
that allowed him to understand

the surrounding world around him
that much more quickly.

Quiet please!

Quiet!

You guys are enjoying the conversation,
the band members.

You are looking and talking.
The first waiter enters!

Michael.

Play! Play!

Play!

Once again.

No, you have to stop...

at this very spot, right here.
You have to stop...

Can't go so far, right?

Once again.

OK, back it up.

Who is Milos Forman, in fact?

Czech or American?

Czech-American?

Or American-Czech?

First waiter!

Is it possible
to uproot someone?

What sources inspire his work?

Play!

Life is surrounded by death...

Youth,

love,

and everything else is etched
on a surface of failure.

It is perhaps the initial source
of our inspiration.

Do you have dreams, Milos?

I have only two subjects of
daydreaming

I guess.

When you try to fall asleep,

you want your mind to

to be in a happy mood

You dream about

women and...

of what...

you're doing right now.

In the sense that you

are doing it well.

What influences you?

Everything...

Everything.
The whole thing.

But what it was exactly,
I don't know really.

How can you say

what has had the strongest influence
on yourself and your life?

I think the strongest influence,
is the genes

that we bring to this planet.

Our mother and father give you
your strongest influence in the genes.

Hasn't the greatest milestone been

having been orphaned after
your parents died?

What do I know?
That's how I feel.

I can't...

I think it was important
when I found myself...

being by myself

at the age of whatever, 10.

I have to deal with situations

at an age when you are
very perceptive

to learn...

Where we are very

open to every new experience.

I had to deal with things

that normally you face later on.

I don't know...

Have you had any influences,

ideals, desires...

Something that shocked you,
a person who is dear to you?

A director, for instance?

I believe that

the influence of art,

in general...

on a young person
who's just out of puberty,

in these very fragile years,

I think is enormous.

It can

put you...

on a path...

It's not necessarily
great art...

which does it to you...

It was a book,
which I never heard of again,

"Plavčíci kapitána Bontekoea"

which made me discover
a world of fantasy.

I just loved it.

I couldn't wait to run home

to live in the world of this book.

I was very sad,
when it was over.

I was begging God
to make me forget the book

so I could read it again

with the same discoveries
as if I didn't know anything.

Then later, I must say,

it's very strange,

I discovered
with great excitement

the lectures of Dr František Dvořák,

who taught art history.

He was talking about paintings and...

why...

and what distinguished
the Italian renaissance school

from the Flemish...

It was...

I spent hours

going through galleries and art
books on my own

just being excited by this teacher.

Who has
influenced you most in cinema?

I guess it was Charlie Chaplin.

I was so impressed
by his power over me.

Because I would come
in a theatre, in a cinema,

and all of a sudden,

here I am, laughing or crying,

exactly as he is dictating.

This power over me
fascinated me.

I wanted to exercise
the same power over people,

sitting in the movie house.

Any time,

I was laughing so hard

so much that I couldn't see anything
I was crying with laughter.

How did he do it?

How does Milos Forman
captivate moviegoers?

Let's just shoot the beginning.

Then continue just as written.

Then we'll film these two.

This one, this one and this one.

What do we have to do
to make them talk?

They know what we want.

Why don't we just

to get that Conklin?

I know where he lives.

It keeps us in people's minds...

While they are here,

let's move them around a bit.

They will be in front
and we can see them all.

Mara will be here and we
will have to change everything.

In that case, I'll have to rewrite it.

Just for these two shots.

Can you show me the beginning.

Open it in front of your face.

Do exactly as I did it.
In front of your face.

And turn the page.

Nothing in here.
You got anything?

Who's next?

Do you have anything?

Guess who it is.

It says here that the bombs,
if it's related,

were planted by a deranged man.

Who is a bad actor for you?

A bad actor...

A bad actor,
is the one you don't believe.

But that doesn't mean they're bad.

They're just not persuasive.
Might not be their fault.

Just get him.

Let's do that.

I'm not finished yet.
I know where he lives.

Yeah, why don't we do that?

All three of you should...

Yes, why don't we do that?

Once you shoot, you don't care...

what's wrong.

Show me again the beginning.

Let's do the whole thing again just
before he closes the newspaper.

I just want to...

Nothing here.
You got anything?

No, nothing.

Wait a minute.

Says here that the bombings,
if it's related,

were the work of deranged madmen.

They don't take us seriously.

What have we got to do before
they are willing to talk?

They know what we want.

Why don't we don't just...

go get Conklin,
just get him?

I see thousands and thousands
of actors.

Even for tiny, little parts,
I do readings.

I can't

take a chance

that an actor will be bad,
not because he's a bad actor,

but because he is wrongly cast
by me, which is very possible.

I've seen so many wonderful actors

act badly because of
they were wrongly cast.

I don't know what it is.

Why you can be wonderful
in a part

and bad in another.

Why some can be good all the time
or some just once in a lifetime.

Acting is a total mystery to me.

Something I admire enormously.

It's wonderful that somebody is
able to do this to me.

And I am very angry
when somebody can't do it to me.

Someone who is pretentious

or too mechanical

or you see through it.

I get angry because...

I feel betrayed.

I'm here,
I want to believe your story

and all I see,

is some kind of bravura,

some kind of mechanics,

and I get angry.

What other kinds of experience did
you with other directors before?

There were nothing like

what I do with Milos,
especially film.

Doing film with Milos, it was...

it's still, because we still
have one day to go,

something I know I won't have
too many more times.

I don't think I'll get a chance
to meet another director like Milos

because he has...

a tremendous sense

of what is universal.

He understands the whole human idea.

...the total idea of humanity,
he understands it all

He gives me confidence...

...that I'll never forget.

I can't forget it.

Other directors will tell you:

do this and do that.

But he just: Wait, no, no, no.

So, you stand there and you say:

"Damn... what should I do?"

They don't give you any idea.
"What are we doing? What's it about?"

I don't know. I don't know.

So we're discovering it together.
Making... discoveries.

But it's necessary...

How do you say it?
For the ship to have a captain.

There's always a captain.
and the others are the ones who work.

Needless to say, there is a direction.

Here at the Chelsea Hotel

right now I am here out of
pure nostalgia,

because I was staying here

when I came for my first time
on a private visit

to the United States.

Then I lived here for two years,

when I didn't have any money.

I feel sentimental about the fact
that for a year

I didn't pay my rent
and nobody said a word.

These things make you
feel something

very personal about the hotel.

My first Christmas...

away from home,

away from my country,

I spent it here,
in practically the same room.

I was absolutely alone...

and I playing
with the television set.

And suddenly, I think it was
on Channel 9 or Channel 11,

I found out that they were showing

a burning fireplace,

nothing else.

I was lying in the bed,

I had a bottle of champagne,

and a little caviar,

and I was watching for hours
a fireplace

on the television.

And I was feeling so sorry for myself,
I was so sad.

I loved it.

Happiness doesn't exist.

Happiness is too abstract.

I so much look forward to
something that will make me happy

and the moment I have it,
I'm disappointed.

The way I got it

gave me much more excitement,
much more happiness

than the goal when you get there.

I guess for me, to be free to
pursue your happiness

is the ultimate happiness.

For you, happiness is not peace.

Happiness...
is the road to happiness.

Tranquility... is wonderful for
resting.

You can't keep moving
and running all the time.

You need calm,

you need to stop.

But that's good to rest.

But everybody wants to be tranquil,
at peace.

Because everybody needs to rest.

Because everybody... needs to rest.

So you're saying that, the peace
everyone is searching for

is also a search for death?

It could be death.

No, that doesn't mean it's...

It doesn't mean death.

It just means you're resting.

You're gathering strength,
gathering power, gathering thoughts.

You're getting ready for a new trip.

Can you tell me who you are?

I am consciously avoiding
analyzing myself.

Because I have a horror...

not to become one of these
self-indulgent

self-inverted people

who constantly analyzes
and talks about himself.

It is not really important if
you are like that or not.

We have been raised to think
and question who we are.

We were taught it
even while in school.

I know that when I came to school,
and I was studying

I was so much overwhelmed
by everything I saw,

all these films, paintings
and literature.

My natural tendency was to copy.

I was stealing everywhere
because I wanted to be like that.

I wanted to be like that filmmaker,
I wanted to be like that filmmaker...

I wanted to be like that writer.

Slowly, you find out...

that it's good that it will provoke
or inspire you...

but in the end, you end up...

as somebody who is doing

a bad imitation of someone else's work.

The only way,
is to try to find

what you want to say, what you
want to express.

How you feel.

Even if you are taking the risk
that it will be bad, it will be boring,

and that it will not interest anybody,
you have to try that.

So, what did you learn?

Vera, I...

I don't know
what I learned about myself.

I learned about myself

that I enjoy what I do,

that I enjoy telling stories.

But what it means,
in what you are doing, I don't know.

I need to know if
you know what you want.

What is your position
on life, on living?

I don't know.

I think that these questions,

are like masturbation
in cold water.

Of course I know what I want...
I want...

You can say:
I know it or I don't know it.

I'll tell you, I know that

I have nothing to do
and I would love to make a movie.

All I want
is to find a book, a script.

And I am reading and reading...

until one day I find
I find a story and I am excited,

I can't stop reading that book.
I want to do that book.

Why?
Because I was not bored.

That's the only reason.
I want to do this film...

Why don't you want to know the reason
you want this or that particular book?

I don't care. I don't...

You have a thinking brain, don’t you?
One should always ask why!

Everybody wants to know...

But of course.

"Ragtime", when I read "Ragtime",

It's a wonderful story which is
about something which I...

I like to talk about,
it's about man's pride.

It's about man's...

fight for dignity,

for something which we all...

These are the premises!

But on the other hand,
you have the same ideas

in another work
which is totally boring.

It's not the idea which count,
it's a combination

of idea and its execution.

That's what's important.

It's not the idea itself,
not the execution itself.

You can have a brilliant book,

and you finish reading and you

say: "So what?"

On the other hand, you can have a
wonderful idea...

and it's so boring how it is
written and how it is told.

Then who cares?
It's always a combination.

How can you connect with things,
if you don't want to analyze anything,

if you don't want to know yourself?

I think that the knowledge
about myself,

which I get without wanting it,

is enough to depress me, you know.

So, why should I even work on
this kind of self-destruction?

Well... at least you’d know the truth.
I thought you were looking for it.

Alright, are we ready?
We can start moving a little earlier.

Here we go.

Stand by! Full of vim,
full of vigour.

Background action first.
Stand by, background action.

Michael!

Quickly, play! Play!

Forward, forward!

Evelyn, look at that!

Stop, stop now.

Hold it.

Same positions.

You should stop, touch...

Underneath this...

Under the chandelier.

All of you.

And you all, come forward.

Don't be shy!
Come on in!

You are all looking at the statue.

Applauding, applauding,
admiring...

Being happy...

Now, Tommy...

We're pulling back with this guy.

He will take us over there. From that
moment, you see all these people running,

you slowly pan and
start to follow...

The only thing we will have to fix is...

You'll see what will happen...

They should be
coming down a little early,

Evelyn and her entourage.

So as these people cross over...

they gotta be at the door, instead of
the steps... too far back...

Now you have to go down faster
and faster.

You push the people who
are in your way.

Until they move. Push them!

And how about the guys that are
coming in with them?

Do you want them to take a picture?
One up there and one in here?

Huh?

A couple of guys
are coming down with them.

One guy stops here
and the other one here.

Do you want them to do it like this?

Yeah, it can be. Yeah, it can be
right now...

That's alright. Now...

What do we do about the music?
We might have some stuff underneath it.

No, we'll do it without music.
We only record the sound.

Yeah.

Now, Mike...

Mike...

we will only play the music
in the rehearsal now.

We will not play the music.
You'll have to cue them.

One more rehearsal.

Let me see one.

First positions. Silencio!

Let's go. Everybody quiet!

That's a live sale over there,
I want walking,

talking, drinking.

Well, it seems to me that

the most important thing is

to serve the idea,

the story

with

the adequate filmic way.

Which means, I don't think
there exists one formula

for the specificities
of film language.

I don't think it exists.

Every story dictates a different way
how to express it

how to tell it.

Well... there are a number of

specific filmic means...

Name some of them.

There is no theoretical answer
to this question because

every scene,

every story,

every...

mood in the film,

asks for its own specific expression.

But cinema
is an audiovisual system.

What do you think is the most...

let's say...
which way suits you best?

Tell me.
There are so many possibilities.

Sensitive material,

in colour,

good stereo music,

a good editor...

What does auteur cinema mean then?

Author cinema is...

a normal cinema

where a director

is involved
from the beginning to the end.

That's author's cinema,
regardless if you want it or not.

Even if you are doing the most
conventional

commercial, whatever,
type of films.

Once you are involved
as a director,

from the beginning, of the
writing of the script

to the final stages of editing
and mix,

it's an author film.

What is it to 'think through film'?

One doesn't think

through film.

Why not?

It's entirely up to you how you
make use of the language of film

to express your attitude
about a thing.

That is happening every time,

even if you are doing the most
conventional movie.

I don't think that's...

I think that's the normal process.

Whatever you are saying,
whatever story you are telling,

you have...

basically some kind of emotional
relation to that story.

And these emotions will come across,

must come across, regardless...

if you want it or not.

But you adapt somebody
else's material.

Does that mean you identify with it?

Look.

Every...

material is foreign.

We are not born with these ideas.

Our ideas

are based on what we have lived,

what we have read,

what we saw on the screen
or in the theatre...

what we heard.

It all comes from the outside
to our...

little thing.

They are all foreign.

I don't make distinguish my material

and foreign materials.

It is all foreign and it is all mine,

the moment I decide to deal with
the material.

So, by accepting someone's material
you're expressing yourself.

Because you know...

I found out

that I can't function
as a writer

in a country and in a language

where I didn't spend my childhood
and teenage years.

I can't do it.
I don't feel safe enough.

I have to rely on
on material written by people

who digested

the experience of childhood
in this country.

But...

it would be a bad service

to any of these

books or plays
if I just illustrated them.

I have to treat this material

as they treat
their original material.

Regardless of whether it is

their own experience or something else.

For example, "Ragtime".

"Ragtime" is basically based
on historical facts

that E. L. Doctorow

read about or heard about.

It is also based on, or inspired by

a novel by Heinrich von Kleist,

"Michael Kohlhaas".

But he took this material
and made his own vision from it.

Here I have "Ragtime", his book,

and his version became

for me a material for
my own vision.

What is the difference between
his conception of it and yours?

There is no difference

I'm trying

to stay faithful to
the spirit of the book.

The concept of the book,
it is literature.

You can't...

This is a film.

Are you trying to experiment?

If I experiment?

In what sense?

Experiment in the sense of searching,
in the sense of probing.

Do you feel the need to say things

again in a different, inimitable way?

In your very own, unique voice?

What makes you decide

to delve into a risky project

with an uncertain outcome?

A topic you're not sure
if you can to master.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

You never have any certainties.

You always experiment.

Of course,
you don't want to repeat

what you saw yesterday
on TV or in a film.

Of course, you have the ambition

to find another way.

It's not a question of

being original at all costs.

Not at all.

No, not at any price...

If I did certain things
or I saw certain things,

which I love and I like them,

I'll do them again and again.

But when I'm not happy

with what I'm planning,
what I'm thinking about,

then I try to find another way.

That won't be so boring...

dull,

as what I've seen or done before.

Then you try to look for
new ways and possibilities.

But it's not
a question of speculation.

Yes, I know that,

but as filmmakers we are trying
to find a way that's not boring.

Once I've said something,
it's boring.

Not necessary.

There are things you know...

which you like
and excite you again and again.

Background. Hello, hello!
Background.

And... Mike!

Quickly, play, play!

That's my girl over there!

Look at that!

Here, you are here.

Suddenly, she's moving here.

So the best spot
to photograph her is here.

Every photographer wants to be here.

But the scribes go in...

If we get back here,
but the scribes are coming in...

No, the scribes shouldn't come in,
these are your photographers

and you want them to have pictures
for your newspaper articles.

You will not get them if you just
stand like this.

Opposite is good.

You are trying to make it clear
they should be photographed.

You should be in there
taking your photographs...

And you, be much more aggressive.

You have to clear it.

You get in there and start saying...

Place your leg like the statue.

This hand, this hand.
Look, look!

You check if you are
like the statue. Go on your toe.

Yeah! There you go, good,
now stay!

Here
I want to see some movement.

And we are trying to get
the best frame, right?

The inspiration for "Ragtime",

was the house I lived in,

which was built in that period,

in 1906.

I was staring at the wall one day,

wondering
what I was going to write.

I started to write about the wall,
then the house.

And what things must have been like
when the house was built.

As the author of the book
from which he is making a film,

from which the film is derived from,

it was in my interest
in seeing to it that...

the film has some fidelity to the ideas
and the spirit of the book.

And Milos...

has his own independence,
as an artist,

to think about.

And he would rather not have...

- I'm pretty sure -
my point of view,

my proprietary point of view
to deal with.

He has said to me:

"Why don't you grant me
as filmmaker

the same freedom to deal with
your book as a source

that you grant yourself when you
write the book in the first place?"

My answer to that is

that I grant you all the freedom
you want,

Just don't call it "Ragtime".

It's not just a question of
of what's already in your head

and what you can on paper.

But also how you are able to
provoke each other

and inspire each other.

I remember when I was ready

to start "Hair", the movie,

Michael came and I asked him
if I had read "Hair",

if I knew
the music and the play.

He said yes.
"So what do you think?

"How do you think this movie
should be done?"

His answer was
"I have no fucking idea."

At that moment, I understood

that this is a good starting point,
we can start from there.

That's great.

Then we sit down
and say, "All right.

"So, now...

"who opens the door
and what does he or she say?"

So you bonded over
sharing doubts.

It's like anything.
Something unites people,

that we try to explain
afterwards.

And it's pointless.

You either enjoy being with
somebody or you don't.

We don't know why,
You can't explain it.

It's just that way.

And it's a lot of fun.

I think there is one thing
that's important

that...

we share, a certain kind of,

emotional attitude
towards situations and people.

It's important to find out.

It's something that you really have
to find out.

It's not that you can tell him:

"Do it like this or do it like that."
And "Feel this way".

You either feel that way or not.

What I mean is,

you have to get to find out

if this character
we both like emotionally,

we feel compassion
for the same people,

hatred for the same people,

we feel... am I right?

Yeah, yeah.

It would probably be difficult
to collaborate

if this character has
all my compassion and love

and he loathed him.

If he thinks that I...

I think that's probably...

Except sometimes I know,

I'm sure that it's very good that

Sometimes the material that
you want to work on or that I like,

you won't think much of it, or
I won't think much of it,

and you have to justify it...

It's sometimes good that we have to
challenge each other

before we really know for sure

that we do feel good in it.

There are often times when
that we each have our own idea.

I'll tell you one thing that's

Really important.
You have to have...

the confidence and trust
to make terrible mistakes and to be wrong.

That is very critical
in a collaboration.

If you know you can be stupid
in front of a person

and say anything
when you're in trouble for an idea,

without having to defend it
and look intelligent,

you can just be stupid,

that's very important.

There must be

ideological goals
that you identify with.

What did you find interesting
in "Ragtime"?

From this point of view,

she is interested in what
interested you in "Ragtime".

Well first of all, I must be very
superficial,

I don't become interested in
something for ethical...

I'm not interested in working

on a story for ethical reasons.

If it's an unethical story,
I don't like it.

But that's rare.

What usually attracts me in the end,
it's not some deep ethical...

I'm not a moral writer.

These things don't excite me,
the moral truth in something.

At least, not in the first
instance.

Maybe when you start working on it,
it begin to excite me a little more.

But in "Ragtime",

I liked the period
it was set in.

I liked something about

all the different stories
it was trying to tell in different ways.

It was almost...

For film, if the material brings
you plot,

or something to build a good plot
and good characters.

For me, that was what was very
attractive in "Ragtime", the book.

Because...

it's not...

It's so intriguing

to be able to build a plot
and characters.

It was so...

You open a conflict here and suddenly
it becomes a different conflict.

Then you open...

a character.

And you lead one character
to meet another one.

Then the 3rd character
takes you away.

And still, how to feel

the same kind of tension and suspense

for that character,

without feeling betrayed that another
character dropped out of the story.

That kind of thing makes you...

So, if you mean...

if there was something in the way
he wrote his sentences...

For instance,
Doctorow is a very conscious writer,

he knows exactly what he's doing.

And he found a kind of prose
to write the book with,

It's not the prose he has written
his other books with.

It's specific to this one.

It's a set of
of short "jazzy" sentences.

He was thinking about ragtime music,

he tried to find
equivalent prose.

If you are saying,
"Do I as a writer,

"try to find a way
to make a film that reflects

the ragtime feeling of the sentences?,

Then no,
I don't know how to do that.

It may have been something that
interested Doctorow in finding sentences.

But it's not one of the things that
would excite me much

in finding out how to turn it
into a screenplay.

I'll tell you...

it was dictated by the book.

I wanted, consciously,
for the film to have the same flavour,

a very free way to tell stories

which interlock,

in which the characters are coming out
of nowhere and disappearing into nowhere

and yet you feel they are essential
and important

for something which was either before
or which is coming later

So that nothing is arbitrary,
everything makes sense

at the end of the film.

And still you have the feeling

of having seen a saga, a mosaic,

not just one situation-story

So I had this in mind.

It's not that...

You see, I like
that kind of story for films.

I don't know if...

This was something I tried
unsuccessfully in "Fireman's Ball"

Which doesn't have a central
character at all.

"Ragtime" still finally,
about halfway through the film,

suddenly one or two characters
emerge as the leading characters.

Which "Fireman's Ball" doesn't
have at all.

It was a failure

but it's something
I like, I like very much,

Because it's...

as unpredictable and
full of contradictions as life itself.

But, what do you do in order not to
simply illustrate the book?

You don't have a formula!

You don't have a formula for
how to attack this problem.

If you had a formula,

it wouldn't be difficult
make wonderful films out of any book.

That's not true. Creative intent
doesn't equal success.

You are right. It doesn't mean that
that if you have a formula

that it'll be successful in
the end. That's true

I think it's dangerous
to have any formula at all,

because then you are really...

doing something in cold blood

because a formula is something,
it's almost mathematical.

Then you decide,
alright, we'll decide

to attack it with
this or that formula

then it is lifeless
what you are doing.

It would be fulfilling some kind...

You always work intuitively?

No, it's never like that.
You start with intuition,

but the moment you write down
your first sentence,

you're already setting up rules
for yourself.

If you write this sentence,

the next one can't be any other
sentence but this one.

The moment you start working,

you are setting rules and formulas
for yourself.

It's always a symbiosis, or...

Of course it's always
a symbiosis.

but you can only get as much out of it
as you invest into it.

Surely you don't destroy something
simply by knowing more about it.

Look, let me give you an example
of what I am talking about.

I was aware...

that I have, because...

After a while, when you tell stories
with certain characters,

you can't suddenly stop to show
what's everything that's around.

I was aware that,
if I had a place,

a space, a film space,

to show
a certain kind of period,

and places, and people, and different
places, and different people,

and give the flavour of the whole,

this is right at
the beginning of the film.

How to do it?

We open the film with newsreels

to which Coalhouse Walker,
in the moviehouse,

playing, accompanying on the piano.

One of the last newsreels

will take us into the real
story

because it deals with
the unveiling of the nude statue

which was a big scandal in the
period nineteen-something in New York,

when it was

on public display
very high above the city but still,

but it was still a nude woman.

Look, I'm asking you about the
mechanics of directing,

not the dramaturgy.

How can you...

how can you work...

to get underneath the surface?

To reveal the sense of things.

And not only their surface.

How do I know? I am trying!
I'm trying.

I only know that the first important
thing how to get things across

is to cast well.

Cast people that
the audience will believe

that they are these people

To cast actors who are alive enough

their face, their eyes...

That they can express things

so that you can see

what is happening
behind their eyes,

behind their flesh itself,

behind their skin.

If you have that,

then you know that you have

to cover it in a certain way,

so that you give the actor
the chance

to give you as much...

observation of their
behaviour, faces,

so that, when you put it
together in a certain way

it comes across, what's behind it.

It's not just...

learned dialogues
where only the words make sense,

but also the faces,
the behaviour,

the mood, the light...

You have to believe in yourself,

believe in
the people you work with,

and you choose, of course.

And you have to believe
that you're taking a risk.

There is no guarantee.

Do you know
what the final form will be yet?

I am superstitious.

And I don't want to talk

about the film until it's finished.

I'm just superstitious.

You're not sure of the outcome?

I'm never sure of the result.

I'm not sure about it now,

and I never will be sure about it.

I can't judge it,
I can't see it.

You've got some rice on your chin.

But that's a professional question,
the most important one.

To know the initial premise

and what it will become...
at the end.

It’s about the process of...

How do you say “grasp”?

- "Grasp"?
- The process...

To grab hold of it.

To own the idea.

I'm too stupid to talk about this.

No, it's true.

You must be a narcissist.

But why?

When you discuss film as such,
or the meaning of things...

We must talk about
the meaning of things.

Listen, if I tell you,

"Yes, this story which attracted me

"because it deals with men's pride
and the desire for tolerance",

what does that mean?

I just want to know the difference
between the first idea and the outcome.

Rather than discussing ideas,

go see the film, they're there.

If I wanted to discuss it,
I wouldn't make a movie about it.

What?

Why would I talk simply
about the plot?

Just watch it and you'll find out.

But I'm making a movie about you,

and would like to know what were you
you were looking for in the beginning.

I want to know
what you want, who you are.

And if you behave like that,
that’s the only thing I’ll have.

I'm in the worst person
to tell you who I am.

If you say 'I refuse',
that says something about you, too.

I'm so much scared

to sound so intelligent,

and smart and pretentious.

What if the movie is a piece of shit?

This little piggy goes to market.

This little piggy is going home.

This little piggy has roast beef.

And this piggy goes wee-wee-wee
all the way to the bank!

- That's it.
- That's it.

All the way to the bank,
that's what he does.

That was very good.

But you need to push it more.

You have to start out laughing.

When you say,
"this one... and this one...

"and blah, blah, blah",

you start laughing.

"This little piggy..."

It must be full of life.

Yes, you're right.

I like it...

when a director leads me through
very contradictory emotions

that I will attribute to
life on the screen,

not to the director.

The moment I see
the director talking to me,

I am out.
I lose emotions.

I don't feel any emotional contact
with the screen.

Do you lose emotion even when you read?

Reading a book,
is literature,

we know that someone...

it's a stream
of subjective thoughts,

that someone is telling you.

But a film, because of the nature
of photography, it's objective.

Of course it is.

It forces you to see something.

Yes, but that's the game

that I love, when it's hidden.

When I don't see it.

Because what appears on the screen,

on the photograph,
everything is real.

The trees,
they are real trees.

Yes, but what about the editing?

That's what I'm saying.

...after editing, you have
broken it, deformed it.

I know.
But I like it best

when a filmmaker does it to me

without me being aware it.

I like the

impact of the game he plays with me.

But I don't like
to see through it.

Yes, I know it, it’s your love...
things with the story...

You're in agreement with the audience
on that, they like stories, too.

But the viewer is not your
your only criterion.

Your goals must be higher.
than the wishes of the viewers.

But I am a partner.

I don't want it to be
like a student at school

listening

preaching...

I don't like that.

...when someone wants to know
something, it means he is a student?

Of course. Then I'll go to school.

So, everyone should keep on
learning till the end of times, huh?

First of all, it's good

that the character
is the guy who goes for the first time.

I'll make him act like
he's a pro.

Well, it depends..

It's up to you.

Milos Forman shares his

experiences at Columbia University

another harvest is germinating
in Czechoslovakia.

Let's hope his offspring.

will not linger
in the shadow of their father.

If you want to do
a funny observation

of human behaviour,

I think this is the right basis.

You’re often criticised due to
your humour being based on ridicule.

That's a very relative question,

when you laugh with someone,
you're laughing at...

You know...

I don't make...
I don't make those kinds of distinctions.

You can't really laugh
at anybody you like

You always laugh with him, even if
you make him look ridiculous.

I would never joke with someone
with someone I don't like.

I would never joke

at the expense of someone...
I don't like.

I can really

laugh only at the expense of people
I like.

I can...

I can stand
better than anyone else,

if they like me, that they
tell me what they want.

And it's true. I can't stand it
if I know that this person

dislikes me.

That's petty, I guess.

I should be able to
stand that, I suppose.

I just about understand you.

One of the most important

laws of nature is balance.

And that is very often

mistaken.

Because...

when things lean to one side,

and they're in danger of falling,

you have to push in the other direction.

While it's unpopular

because the whole trend
is to go the other way.

You might be considered
a rebel,

or as an opponent, you know,

to the established system
or the established trend.

That's bullshit.
It's not true.

You're doing a good service

because you're trying
to maintain the balance.

You know what I'm talking about?

I know what you mean. Engagement doesn't
always get a warm reception,

even if it's compassion for reality.

When you think about it,

you don't feel compassion
with institutions.

You feel compassion with individuals.

Compassion...

I don't have compassion
for institutions.

I have compassion for individuals.

So, it's a person

who deserves our compassion.

If an individual

of individual lives, happiness,

well-being,
are threatened by another individual,

that is a good conflict

and I'm not saying
that it's worth it

to talk about that

but

it's a much more touching conflict

if it's between an individual
and an institution.

Regardless, if it it's
society in general

or the school, the office,
the government, whatever...

There,

when a person gets into a conflict

with an institution,

there I feel
I feel a very strong compassion.

Because I know that this individual
needs my compassion.

And the compassion of all of us

because through this compassion,
we protect ourselves.

I think this is that's
the major conflict in human existence.

For we are individuals
and all,

we struggle

for our independence
and our freedom as individuals.

On the other hand,
we need institutions

to be able to live.
So, we create institutions

but every institution,
by its nature,

after a while,
starts to dominate us,

to own us.

And in that moment,

starts the most dramatic conflict,

I guess...

since the beginning of mankind

and it will last forever.

I guess this is

what you call...

the social meaning
of what we are doing.

That's your answer as to why
you make movies?

All I can say is,

is that I'm trying

to do things my own way.

Which I admire,

which excited me,

and inspires me and provoke me,

as a student,
as a spectator,

until today,

done by other people.

Which...

I am fascinated
by the contradictions of life.

I am fascinated
by the ambiguity of things.

Where, next to each other live

tenderness and cruelty,

sadness and joy,

wisdom and silliness,

It fascinates me...

than in one person,
one story, one time,

these things are there,
if you look from a certain angle.

It's silly, it's cruel.

It's materialistic, it's dry.

And if you look at the same thing
from another angle,

it becomes tender, poetic.

It's very wise.

And it's beautiful.

And because
I can never figure it out myself

how these things happen,

That keeps me talking about them.

Each of us

has been placed before a different task.

And each of us sees our mission

from a different angle.

We are different from each other
in our beliefs,

our interests and in our opinions.

But there is no difference

that can make us forget
our common and fundamental desire,

our thirst for evolution

and liberty.

I don't need a happy ending,
but I need a catharsis.

I need to feel

that tragedy is not in vain.

Because I believe in it.

I believe that
even if I never find

the meaning of life,
or that it has some meaning

And I don't care if
I find the meaning or not.

I just want to believe it does.
That's all.

I know that we are not immortal.

But I just don't want to live
with the idea

that I am going to
die at any moment

and that nothing make sense.

I love it here.

This pair...

comes every year.

Last year they had 11 little ones,

The year before that,
they only had 6.

It's incredible because

they arrived
about three weeks ago.

They're... walking around, flying.

And then they'll disappear.

And one day they will come back
with the little ones behind them.

And if you try to find out
where they are hatching,

nobody knows.

Nobody can find out.

That's why I had to put this
thing there,

in the middle of the water

so that the little ones can
sleep on the wood thing in the water.

Otherwise, they wouldn't stay here.

They have to be protected in the
night from the fox.

You know?

I saw several times, all the family

the geese family, sitting there,

on that wooden box,

with the fox walking around here.

Watching each other.

The role of art,

is to express meaning, rhythm,

And the terrible beauty of life.

The awakening of sympathies
and of human solidarity.

For it is these qualities, hand in hand,

that fend off all that is lowly,

egotistical and condemnable.

Subs by mammame