Maman et la putain, La (1973)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Jean Eustache

Writer:

Jean Eustache (scenario and dialogue)

Release Date:

6 July 1973 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Breasts | Book | Anesthetist | Boredom | Bed

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Bernadette Lafont	...	Marie
Jean-Pierre Léaud	...	Alexandre
Françoise Lebrun	...	Veronika
Isabelle Weingarten	...	Gilberte
Jacques Renard	...	Alexandre's Friend
Jean-Noël Picq	...	Offenbach lover
Jessa Darrieux
Geneviève Mnich
Marinka Matuszewski

Also Known As:

The Mother and the Whore (USA)

Runtime:

Argentina:218 min | Japan:220 min | UK:215 min | USA:210 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Sweden:15 | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris 6, Paris, France

Company:

Elite Films

Trivia:

This film is based on the real-life relationship between director Jean Eustache and actress Francoise Lebrun (who plays Veronika).

Goofs:

Continuity: While reading the book of Gestapo at his friend's home, Alexandre is holding a cigarette in his right hand in the close-up. In the next shot he is only holding the book.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Passagers, Les (1999)

The beginning of a new French film

I put off reviewing it for quite a while; I just couldn't come to terms with its rejection of the New Wave. Eustache has given us the talkiest movie ever, if you except those marathon Rivette films from the same period (I survived a showing of Out One: Spectre).

The camera doesn't move: it is parked in front of the actors in cafes and restaurants. The close camera placement forces us to concentrate on the conversations, which are monologues by Alexandre interspersed with explosions from Veronika. The romantic word-spinning from Alexandre is of this ilk: "The day I stop suffering, I'll have become someone else," or "In May 1968 a whole cafe was crying. It was beautiful. A tear gas bomb had exploded... a crack in reality had opened up," or most poetically, "I don't do anything, I let time do it." The retorts from Veronika are sometimes astonishing in their savagery: "Watch out, you'll push in my Tampax."; "I've screwed the maximum of Jews and Arabs."; (serving tea)"I like the feel of a prick against my ass, even if it's soft. One sugar or two?" It's as if a Proust character somehow left his drawing room to go slumming with a woman out of L-F Celine's Death on the Installment Plan.

This film ought to be seen by anyone interested in French film of that period--the 70's--but be aware of the static, slow-moving nature of the work.