The Fruit of Paradise - Ovoce stromu rajských jíme

1970

Vera Chytilová

Ovoce stromů rajských jíme is based on a series of encounters between Eva and Robert. The prologue resonates throughout these encounters. Initially, Robert (dressed in red) is framed stretched snake-like across an overhead branch. Most of the action during the first part of the film surrounds Robert's leather satchel. The satchel first appears discarded in a tree whilst Robert and Eva exchange (admittedly absurd) pleasantries whilst he urinates. Crucially, this scene takes place next to a stone wall, which Eva has climbed over to pick fruit for Josef. The significance of the wall only becomes clear during the final sequences of the film. In contrast to Robert, Josef is dressed in grey, and his behavior is marked by his perfunctory interest in Eva. Robert's infidelity is suggested in two sequences. In the first, he receives a scented love-letter that he dismisses as "nothing." The second, however, is contained in a bizarre collective ball game. Beach games and infidelity In a visually flamboyant scene that recalls both the abstract use of colour and composition in Michelangelo Antonioni's Il deserto rosso (The Red Desert, 1964) and Zabriskie Point (1970), Robert, Josef and a number of girls dressed only in their underwear play with a huge red inflatable ball. This is accompanied by some remarkable vocal effects on the soundtrack. Eva recognises Josef's interest in one of the girls, yet she's distracted by Robert's key falling from his pocket. At first she tries to alert Robert, but he's preoccupied with the girls. So Eva steals off with the key, and proceeds to enter Robert's room, in search of truth. Eva attempts to break into Robert's desk, only to find an assortment of fruit, keys, nuts and buttons—a peculiar collection undoubtedly curated by Krumbachová, but also one which would not seem out of place in a Jan Švankmajer film. The sequence is photographed in close-up using a distorting wide-angle lens. It's subsequently printed in a way that omits alternate frames, producing a cranked-up effect that should be funny, but here it appears to be rather ominous, like the movements of a spider. The sound of footsteps prompts Eva to hide behind the curtains, horror-film style. There she finds the briefcase. Inside the briefcase she finds lace and a pile of rubber stamps. She rolls over, draws up her skirt and stamps her thigh above her garter with the number six in red ink. Combined with the tension of Eva's trespassing, the sequence is perversely erotic, and recalls the most famous scene of Jiří Menzel's Ostře sledované vlaky (Closely Observed Trains, 1966). Back on the beach, we learn that a serial killer is stalking nymphettes, leaving their bodies stamped with a red number six. Eva's search for the "truth" behind Robert has resulted in literally marking herself out as one of his victims. With this brew of a devilish serial killer, a mysterious key and indelible red / blood ink, Krumbachová and Chytilová appear, above anything else, to be alluding to the Blue Beard fairytale.