Absolute masterpiece or 3h40 endless? This cursed and controversial film must be seen again!

The Mother and the Whore returns to theaters this Wednesday, June 7. Preceded by Sulphur’s reputation, this film by Jean Eustace already had a successful run a year ago and returns as part of a retrospective dedicated to his director. Originally released in 1973 with an under-18 ban, this (very) feature film has a restored 4K version.

The long-gone “mother and whore” became a real object of the cult, so rare. Ahead of its theatrical release, here’s what you need to know about this phenomenal production.

Where does the scandal begin?

Why was the film immediately surrounded by the smell of scandal? The first reason is very simple: its short content and the topics discussed in this unusually long film (3h40).

The plot is as follows: Alexander, a young idler, lives (and in harm’s way) with Marie, a shopkeeper who is much older than him. He is still in love with Gilberta, a student who refuses a marriage proposal he makes as redemption. As he leaves the terrace, he meets Veronika, an intern at Laennec. “I allowed myself to be easily approached, as you saw (…) I can sleep with anyone, it doesn’t matter. Marie reluctantly agrees to share her man with him.

With 2023 in mind, we might be surprised by the ban on under-18s. But at the time, 50 years ago, even though May 68 was there, I am worried about this summary, its dialogues (the word “kiss” is used many times) and especially the underlying themes. The film is about free love and a love triangle. It also talks about abortion, women’s intimacy and their contraception, the idea of ​​which is taboo, which disturbs some viewers. Some even consider this movie… pornographic.

Note that even before the film was shot, its genesis was complicated. A complex genesis that at the same time nourished the work and made it what it has become.

In a press kit accompanying the film’s release last year, Les Films du Losange, its distributor, shed some light on its director’s comments on the subject: “I was going through a tough time before making this film. Everyone liked my films. I had very good reviews and none of my films were in short supply. But no one wanted to give money to produce a new one.

The only ones who have given me money so far have been Godard, at the end of filming, and ORTF, after many discussions, because they were documentaries, apparently without problems. This contradictory situation made me angry.

And it was this rage that allowed me to write the dialogues for La Maman et la Putain. Dialogues, or rather monologues without cutting, which were collected daily and form the basis of a colossal five-six-hour film. (…) To give an idea of ​​the necessity of the provocation which was mine, I note that the original title was Du pain et des Rolls.“

Cannes festival marked by provocation for French films

The detonator of the scandal, the 1973 Cannes Film Festival! It doesn’t take long for the film to generate controversy during its presentation. Some critics did not spare him, starting with Gilles Jacob, a film critic of the time, before he held the position of General Delegate of the Cannes Film Festival for many years.

Gilles Jacobs doesn’t beat around the bush, he hits on the film, in front of its director Jean Eustace, talking “No movie“by”Not a filmmaker“with”
Spoiler:
A non-actor“. He even uses the word”pointless” thereby adopting the exact term heard in the offending film.

Despite this icy reception, La Maman et la putain won two prizes, including the Jury’s Special Grand Prize. However, it should be noted that the president of the jury that year, Ingrid Bergman, was against this choice and considered the film “disgusting”.

He even stated in the press that “It is a pity that France saw fit to present these two films, the most vile and vulgar of the festival.Another Cannes film is Marco Ferrer’s La Grande Bouffe, a feature film with which La Maman et la putain shares the Fipresci prize.

Mother and Whore also caused a flood of ink after two tragic deaths. The film’s costume designer, Catherine Garnier, commits suicide before the film’s release. The story goes that he left this note: “The film is sublime, leave it as isJean Eustace committed suicide in 1981 at the age of 42, less than 10 years after the film’s release.

A rare film that has become almost invisible

Like any work surrounded by myth, La Maman et la putain is one of those films that many people know about, but… haven’t seen!

The piece would draw no fewer than 300,000 viewers for its 1973 release (and more than 30,000 for its re-release last year). But the film would remain banned under the age of 18 until 1981. And only in 1986 will it hear its first television broadcast, the extraordinary length of the film not conducive to a wide public broadcast.

His TV shows can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The latter dates back almost 10 years to the broadcast in May 2023, the channel’s tribute to the death of Bernadette Lafont. The movie still doesn’t exist on DVD (this should be fixed soon).

Only a few screenings took place in cinemas in France or abroad. Otherwise, pirated copies have been circulating for a long time.

Before the distribution company Les Films du Losange took over the restoration and protection of this film, La Maman et la putain could have disappeared. A rather complex blocking of film rights has indeed prevented the film from being restored and re-exploited.

Return

This is a completely restored version and even embellished with a deleted scene that is being offered to the public for this re-release. As the distributor states, “This reissue of La Maman et la Putain is only the first and most emblematic step in the long process of restoring his entire body of work. It will also include DVD/Blu-ray releases and unreleased critical works..”

PODCAST – Why are movies so long?

Jean Eustace’s Mother and the Whore is released this Wednesday, June 7, 2023.