Věra Chytilová stated in many an interview that she demanded absolute freedom to create films according to her own conceptions. There is no reason to doubt this but it is also evident that it is a privilege granted to only a few filmmakers, and that the work of such ‘auteurs’ is usually achieved within generic or narrative convention. Yet films such as Chytilová's Sedmikrásky (Daisies, 1966) and Ovoce stromů rajskych jime (The Fruit of Paradise, 1969) make even the work of a Godard or Antonioni seem somewhat normal. Even her later films, despite political constraints, found ways of breaking with the molds for which they had been created.

It would be difficult to imagine Chytilová working in a fully commercial system and, in fact, she was only able to complete four feature films outside the protection of a nationalized industry in the fourteen years between 1992 and her last feature film in 2006. The supposed ‘discipline’ of the market imposes limitations that – if rigorously applied to other art forms – would prove equally restrictive.

Yet the individuality of Chytilová's films in the 1960s did not come from nowhere – they had to be nurtured and supervised by producers, authorized by the management of the Barrandov Studios, and approved by the Communist Party's ideological commission. They were also subject to censorship and distribution of the final product had to be approved. The extraordinary determination of one woman and a succession of ‘accidental’ decisions cannot provide the only explanation for her achievements.