Release Date: January 14, 2025
Prices and Links:
Criterion-$39.96 (4K+Blu ray) , $31.96 (Blu ray Only)
Director: Jean Eustache
Writer: Jean Eustache
Starring: Bernadette Lafont, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Françoise Lebrun, Berthe Granval, Geneviève Mnich
Producer: Bob Rafelson
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 ***** 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.
Prices and Links:
Criterion-$39.96 (4K+Blu ray) , $31.96 (Blu ray Only)
Director: Jean Eustache
Writer: Jean Eustache
Starring: Bernadette Lafont, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Françoise Lebrun, Berthe Granval, Geneviève Mnich
Producer: Bob Rafelson
- France
- 1973
- 218 minutes
- Black & White
- 1.37:1
- French
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 ***** 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.
4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- New interview with actor Françoise Lebrun
- New conversation with filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin and writer Rachel Kushner
- Program on the film’s restoration
- Segment from the French television series Pour le cinémafeaturing Lebrun, director Jean Eustache, and actors Bernadette Lafont and Jean-Pierre Léaud
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by critic Lucy Sante and an introduction to the film by Eustache
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