THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE (director: Jean Eustache; cast: Jean-Pierre Léaud (Alexandre), Bernadette Lafont (Marie), Françoise Lebrun (Veronika), Isabelle Weingarten (Gilberte), Jacques Renard (friend of Alexandre), 1973-France)
Having lived through and somehow survived the cultural revolutions of the late 60s and early 70s American style, not fully aware of what the French upheaval was all about, except to notice that there was more of an identification over there between the working-class and intellectuals, and not the same usage of hallucinogenic drugs and anti-Vietnam protests that was sweeping the American landscape. I was therefore most interested that this film tackled the subject of revolution totally by looking through the eyes of sexual change, following the trail of a professional idler, in his late 20s, Alexandre (Léaud), who manages not to work, own an apartment or possess many material things, doing this by living off the women he has affairs with, who supply him with food, an apartment to share, clothes, and perhaps even some money.
We first meet Alexandre as he arrives at the Sorbonne to get confirmation that his relationship is all over with the coed who just dumped him for another man, Gilberte (Isabelle), who tells him it is definetly over between them, she is marrying this other man. Alexandre pleads his case, professing his love for her, cunningly trying to win her back, but to no avail. We subsequently learn that Gilberte was a virgin when he met her, and even though he treated her badly, he still believes he loves her very much. Despondent with her decision, he comes out of the bohemian cafe he hangs out in, Deux Magots, and eyes this very attractive blond. His pick-up line to her is, "I don't have time to have a drink with you but can I have your telephone number." This girl turns out to be Veronika (Lebrun), who is the whore of the story, a Slavic nurse, in her 20s, and someone who professes a dire need to have casual sex with as many offers as she can entertain, especially enjoying it with exotic outsiders, like Jews and Arabs. Going on to tell Alexandre that her relationships don't last too long, but that men are very attracted to her because she has a big ass, nice breasts, a sensual mouth, and when she wears make-up her eyes appear very sexy. Alexandre chimes in, that he also likes her when she smiles.
When Alexandre returns to the apartment he shares with his lover, the mother of the story, the 30ish, well-endowed boutique owner, Marie (Lafont), who in real-life was the ex-lover of the director of the film, who never acted before, but has a strong sexual presence in this film, he tells her most everything about what he does, including his new lady friend.
After we see how rakish and supposedly cool Alexandre is, and hear his amusing rantings about life, philosophy and love, (he sure loves to talk nonstop) we also discover that he has a double-standard about sex, being not so free and easy when it comes to having his women folk do the same thing he does to them.
This "take me seriously" three and a half-hour film is surprisingly never dull, and is always diverting and titillating in its sexual characterization of these three rather likable and vulnerable participants in experimental living, that has its ups and downs as far as their compulsive libertine tendencies go. We follow the relationship over a few weeks grow between Veronika and him, in-between bouts of too much drinking, chain smoking and sharing a bed with the at-first antagonistic Marie, but a soon to be more accepting Marie, until her true feelings emerge again, as she attempts suicide but is stopped by Alexandre, and then we are treated to hearing one of the best "I am a whore" speeches I ever heard, as Veronike fesses up to wanting to be loved, that sex is really nothing to her even though she enjoys coming the maximum number of times, (she has some kind of thing about saying maximum whenever she can) but is not ashamed that she is free enough to go to bed with whomever she desires, claiming that she is better than the hypocrite housewife who dreams of screwing the plumber or some stranger, but never acts on her desire.
Confessions and half-baked philosophies come pouring out of this film at the drop of a fancy scarf, as Alexandre states he can't love a woman who doesn't love him. While Marie demands that she could have other relationships also, just like he does. With all the so-called sexual freedom they have, it is discernible that there seems to be a lot of tension around them, making one wonder really if they are enjoying themselves more than their bourgeoisie counterparts are.
Alexandre's male friend (Renard), also an idler, is quite a zany, hanging out at the same cafes Alexandre frequents, showing a keen interest in Nazism as a cultural nostalgia, and wheeling his able bodied self around in his apartment in a wheel chair stolen from a cripple. All the quirkiness and nonsensical palaver of childish 1970s rebellion is seen here, along with a strong sense of connecting with others of the similar mind-set, allowing sex to be the liberating experience that it should be for them, if what they are into is to be taken seriously as some kind of revoluntionary statement.
The film culminates with Alexandre forcing himself into making a choice between the two women who love him, and choosing the more youthful blond when she is at her most vulnerable. He asks Veronika to marry him as she is vomiting into a bucket, as the scene fades out with him sitting in her apartment, about to become a married man. This is not your typical Hollywood romantic happy ending for a film, but one that is very fitting for this film.
It is worth noting, that the director of this seminal work, Jean Eustache, killed himself at age 42 in 1981, and that certainly some parts of this film were based on his real-life experiences.
The acting is superb. Léaud the boyish charmer, is self-absorbed, prattling on and on about himself and what he thinks he knows about life, that is both comically funny and sad, while at all times he acts the part of the compulsive sex freak. The only thing that is impressive about his intellect, was that he is often seen carrying a book by Proust under his arms as he goes to the cafe to read, which is bookmarked to the story about "The Captive." All the women are special in their roles, making us look at them bodily-wise as well as at their mind. I see very little differences between the 1973 sexual mores and the 1999 ones. The later year is when I saw this film on video for the first time.
How this film plays out, depends on one's perspective about sex and relationships, and how important they are; if, perhaps, they are the most important worldly concerns one has, even more important than money or career or philosophy, then this film should prove to not only be entertaining but mindful. If thought of, as otherwise, then the film could still prove to be a most revealing study of how women look at men, especially men who think they are real smoothies. It also should indicate that women often choose these smoothies over other men because they like to play games with men and feel comfortable being around such men.
What the film accomplishes, is to not rely on its plot and on any particular message, but to allow things to happen as they normally would, relying on the compelling nature of the actors to garner our interest, and our natural curiousity about what makes us love one another until it reaches the surface of some common understanding. That this was successfully done, can be attested by me from my own experiences and how important sex was for me in forming a relationship during the 1970s, it also seemed to shape my attitudes in love and in the sense I had of the world. Sex always seems to be revolutionary because it is never static, it is never quite done in the same way.
This film shows no signs of its age, it is impressive enough for me to watch today as it was for me to live vicariously through it in my thoughts of the 1970s. I think that the filmmaker could do no wrong in this film, every gesture and endless chat seemed so terribly right. And if the film is not an optimistic one, then that is just the way the filmmaker saw the situation of the lovers.
REVIEWED ON 4/17/99 GRADE: A
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
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