The Mother and the Whore
The Mother and the Whore
•
3h 39m
Directed by Jean Eustache • 1973 • France
Starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, Françoise Lebrun, Isabelle Weingarten
After the French New Wave, the sexual revolution, and the upheavals of May 1968 came the near religiously revered magnum opus by Jean Eustache. In his long-unavailable body of work, ranging from documentaries about his native village to closely autobiographical narrative films, Eustache pioneered a forthright and fearless brand of realism. The pinnacle of this innovative style, THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE follows Alexandre (Jean-Pierre Léaud), a Parisian pseudo-intellectual who lives with his tempestuous girlfriend, Marie (Bernadette Lafont), even as he begins a dalliance with the sexually liberated Veronika (Françoise Lebrun), leading the three into an emotionally turbulent love triangle. Through daringly sustained long takes and confessional dialogue, Eustache captures a generation navigating the disillusionment of the 1970s, and in the process achieves an intimacy so deep it cuts.
Up Next in The Mother and the Whore
-
Jean-Pierre Gorin and Rachel Kushner
In this conversation, recorded in Los Angeles in 2024, filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin talks with writer Rachel Kushner, his friend, about director Jean Eustache, his influences, and the cultural context of THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE.
-
Françoise Lebrun
In the following interview, recorded in New York City in 2022, actor Françoise Lebrun discusses the making of THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE and the thread that connects director Jean Eustache’s films.
-
Cannes, 1973
This segment, from a special edition of the French television series Pour le cinéma, was filmed at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival. In it, director Jean Eustache and actors Bernadette Lafont, Jean-Pierre Léaud, and Françoise Lebrun discuss THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE, which won the Grand Prix.
