This movie was made and released when Czechoslovakia was still a single country and still very much a part of the Communist bloc so that Westerners like myself with absolutely no experience of day-to-day living under a Communist regime (I have since visited East Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic but long after the Wall came down in 1989) may sometimes miss the more subtle nuances of movies like this, Closely Observed Trains, The Fireman's Ball, etc, being more or less obliged to compare them with the more familiar fodder from Hollywood, UK, western Europe. One thing that does come across powerfully is that the actors, both male and female, are almost without exception as drab as the landscape and as I know from personal experience Czech girls of today are as stunning as girls anywhere I can only assume that life under the Communists bleached all traces of glamour out of the people. This is an excellent and moving film but none of the twentyish girls, including the leading actress would be cast as love interest in even the most modest 'B' picture from Merton Park or Poverty Row. Having said that this remains a watchable and entertaining film.

Maybe a strange observation, but feels a wee bit English to me. It's not that there is a 50's franticness or a 60's anger about it - indeed, the opposites apply. It's maybe just the social-club feel with it's drinking and smoking, dancing and courting.So, what's it about? A blonde girl falls for a young musician who knows how to make the most of his charms. He then just wants to move on to his next affair, but she has decided that they are in love, and tracks him down to his parent's house. That's about it, and this is where Forman is clever - biting off only what he can easily chew, a simple situation that most adults can relate to, adorned with comedy, romance and, for those not Czech, a wee bit of foreign curiosity.It's genuinely funny, engaging, light and gentle.

In Loves of a Blonde Milos Forman continued dealing with the same subjects he did in his first feature film Black Peter (1964); the aimless youth and the Czechslovakian society. After Loves of a Blonde he started working on his next film, The Firemen's Ball (1966). Once the film was released it caused an incredible strife; over ten thousand firemen announced a strike and Milos Forman was about to get sentenced to jail for 10 years. Fortunately Francois Truffaut, the master of Nouvelle Vague, helped Forman out of the trouble and, so Forman went to United States where he has made some of his most remembered films such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus.Loves of a Blonde is often overlooked even that it is one of the finest representatives of Eastern Europe new wave or Novi-film. Alongside with Yugoslavian Dusan Makavejev and Czechslovakian Jiri Menzel, Milos Forman was an integral auteur for the movement. It had the same cheer that the Nouvelle Vague did but the Novi-films were much more politically bold and took clear statements against the Communist government - due to which many of the films got banned.Loves of a Blonde is a cheerful tragicomedy. Its protagonist is a working-class girl, Andula who works at a shoe factory. One day she becomes acquainted with a young pianist to whom she falls in love with. The film is quite ruthless but also humane and Forman treats his characters with warm love. He accepts his characters as they are, with their flaws and controversies. In the beginning he portraits a group of three middle-aged army men who try to hit on three teenage girls. The soldiers are portrayed as dumb and self-thinking but also as humane, sympathetic characters.It's strongly a social film. It portrays the 60's Czechslovakia as a dull place with nothing to do; so people try to find their amusement from sexuality and other pleasures. The officers are stupid and selfish, as is the society. The teenagers are also naive but try their best to survive. The first sequence where the men try to hit on the girls is brilliant and full of significance; one man takes a wedding ring off his finger, drops it and follows it as it goes through the dancing floor. The men try to send a bottle to the girls but the waiter messes up and takes the bottle to the wrong table. Nothing works.Loves of a Blonde is an ironic social film but also a warm story about love and soul searching. Its characters are lost in a country which has lost its course as well. Whether it's the middle-aged men or the teenage girls, or the young pianist, no one really knows who they are. This is a basic tragicomic element in the films of the new wave. The film is clearly naturalism as it describes Czechslovakia as realistically as possible; mud, old clothes, bad wine and cruddy vehicles. It's paradoxically truly a melancholy love story but also a cheer comedy.

I had very high hopes for this film, as I LOVED several other Czech films I've recently seen. However, once I finished the movie, I wondered WHY is it rated so highly? It had very poor and cheap cinematography and the story just did absolutely nothing for me. It was all about a town where there were MANY single ladies and not enough men. One of these women falls for a pianist and he convinces her to lost her virginity to him. Then, she travels to the city where he lives only to find out he really didn't love her but just wanted to get in her dress (i.e., he wanted sex--he was not a transvestite). THAT'S IT!!! Nothing more to this very bland story. It seemed like they had about 1/2 of a movie and just padded it.