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'Beginning during the 1968 Prague Spring, the film focuses on the erotic triangle that womanising surgeon Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis) establishes with his artist lover Sabina (Lena Olin) and shy, sensitive waitress Teresa (Juliette Binoche). This fraught, febrile relationship is rocked – yet also strangely consolidated – when Russian tanks arrive in the city to end the social, sexual and political liberalisation of Czechoslovakia. This imaginative take on Milan Kundera’s modern classic is notable for its fine cast: the leads are superb. Especially successful are the mixing of documentary and fictional recreation for the Soviet invasion and the narrative’s measured shift from cynical irony to something more serious – and heartfelt.' BFI London Film Festival

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