THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE
| 1973 (re-releasing 2022) – 220′ – Drama, Classic.
Written by: Jean Eustache.
Directed by: Jean Eustache.
Starring: Bernadette Lafont, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Françoise Lebrun, Isabelle Weingarten.
Official Selections: Cannes International Film Festival 1973 (Winner Grand Jury’s Prize) and 2022 (restored version), Berlin International Film Festival 1973, New York Film Festival 2022.
Official selection TAFFF 2022 (restored version).
In French with English subtitles.
A The Criterion Collection release. |
New Wave icon Jean-Pierre Léaud finds himself at the center of the film’s titular Freudian sexual dilemma, as well as a powerful discourse on the gender politics of the sexual revolution, in Jean Eustache‘s autobiographical tale of an idle, verbose young man and his two lovers — the woman he lives with (Bernadette Lafont), and the one he cheats on her with (Françoise Lebrun). That simple story, told in minute detail, of a love triangle and the repercussions it unleashes caused a scandal when it won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival. Yet the film, a veritable time capsule of post-’68 sexual mores & philosophies, has been deemed a masterpiece by critics the world over. It was named the Best Film of the 1970s by Cahier du Cinéma, and was recently ranked number two of the greatest French films of all time by Time Out magazine. For years, it has been next to impossible to see this film at all, let alone on a decent print. So we are thrilled to screen this gorgeous, newly restored and remastered 4K projection of The Mother and the Whore to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its original release.