this be possibly one of the bad movie i have ever see . i do not care what the critic say and it bad . i think the problem be with kundera novel . it not that it unfilmable while it just that like 99 % of his work and it pretentious and overdrawn . he seem to be enamor with himself and his character come off a navel gazing and and his novel a a whole be misogynistic . i have read many of his work ( even his socialist realist poetry . that be truly awful ) i just do not understand what the fuss be about . characteristic ( like the self absorption ) in his novel make for infuriate reading . in a movie and all the thing that i dislike about kundera be magnify . maybe i just miss something and but i do not think so . on a side note and i can not believe that this be a criterion collection dvd . no way be this movie that essential .