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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
(aka "La maman et la putain" or "The Mother and the Whore")
Directed by Jean Eustache
France
1973
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. ***
The Mother and the Whore (French: La maman et la putain) is a 1973
French film directed by Jean Eustache and starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, Bernadette
Lafont and Françoise Lebrun. An examination of the relationships between three
characters in a love triangle, it was Eustache's first feature film and is
considered his masterpiece. Eustache wrote the screenplay drawing inspiration
from his own relationships, and shot the film from May to July 1972. Excerpt from Wimipedia located HERE |
Posters
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Theatrical Release: May 17th, 1973 (Cannes Film Festival)
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
Review: Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray / Region FREE - 4K UHD
Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from: Also available on 4K UHD which includes this Blu-ray Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | Criterion Spine #1245 - Region FREE - 4K UHD - Region 'A' - Blu-ray | |
Runtime | 3:39:10.595 | |
Video |
1. 37:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 47,669,310,758 bytesFeature: 40,977,543,168 bytes Video Bitrate: 21.43 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate Blu-ray: |
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Audio |
LPCM Audio French 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bits |
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Subtitles | English, None | |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Criterion
1. 37:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 47,669,310,758 bytesFeature: 40,977,543,168 bytes Video Bitrate: 21.43 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Edition Details: 4K UHD • The film in 2160P resolutionBlu-ray • New interview with actor Françoise Lebrun (14:17)• New conversation with filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin and writer Rachel Kushner (32:40) • Program on the film’s restoration (16:52) • Segment from the French television series Pour le cinéma featuring Lebrun, director Jean Eustache, and actors Bernadette Lafont and Jean-Pierre Léaud (10:30) • Trailer (2:20) PLUS: An essay by critic Lucy Sante and an introduction to the film by Eustache
Transparent Case Chapters 24 |
Comments: |
ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (January 2025): Criterion have transferred Jean Eustache's The Mother and the Whore to 4K UHD and Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "New 4K digital restoration". The Criterion 4K UHD package has one 4K UHD disc of the film and this Blu-ray (which is also available separately) with the film and special features. While we are in possession of the 4K UHD disc we cannot resolve the encode yet and therefore cannot obtain screen captures. We hope to add to this review when possible. So, the below captures are from Criterion's 2025 1080P Blu-ray transfer.
Text screens inform us: "The restoration of the film La
Maman et la Putain marks a new starting point in the rediscovery of Jean
Eustache's film. Like 4K UHD transfers of The Long Wait, and I, the Jury, and many others below, Kino's 2160P transfer of The Mother and the Whore does not have HDR applied (no HDR10, HDR10+, nor Dolby Vision.) We have seen many other 4K UHD transfers without HDR; Mondo Macabro's Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf, Cult Film's Django 4K UHD, Umbrella's 4K UHD transfer of Peter Weir's The Last Wave and Criterion's 4K UHD transfers of I Am Cuba, The Others, Rules of the Game, Branded to Kill, In the Mood For Love, Night of the Living Dead and, further examples, Masters of Cinema's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and Kino's 4K UHDs of Bob le Flambeur, Last Year at Marienbad, Nostalghia, The Apartment, For a Few Dollars More, A Fistful of Dollars, In the Heat of the Night, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as well as Koch Media's Neon Demon + one of the 4K UHD transfers of Dario Argento's Suspiria. Criterion's Blu-ray looks quite strong with the monochrome exporting defining contrast - almost saturated, very dark - and an excellent presentation in the original 1.37:1 aspect ratio. Of course with the over 3.5 hour film the more disc space the higher the bitrate and the better the HD presentation; so the 4K UHD disc has better layered contrast and is even smoother in-motion. Grain textures also appear finer. It may also be a shade brighter. Both look very good but the 4K UHD is pristine and more film-like.
NOTE: We have added 48 more large
resolution Blu-ray captures
(in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE
On their
Blu-ray,
and 4K UHD,
Criterion use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original French
language. The Mother and the Whore
has mostly dialogues, monologues and diegetic sound with no score but
there is music (often played on a phonograph by a character); by Zarah
Leander, Damia, Deep Purple, Fréhel, some Offenbach, Friedrich
Hollaender (Dietrich singing Falling in Love Again,) Mozart and
Les Amants de Paris performed by Édith Piaf. It is authentically
flat but clean and clear in the uncompressed transfer. Criterion offer optional English
subtitles on their Region 'A'
Blu-ray
The included Criterion
Blu-ray
Barbet Schroeder (General
Idi Amin Dada - Autoportrait,
La Vallee,
Koko: A Talking Gorilla) loaned Jean Eustache the money to write
the script for The Mother and the Whore. Eustache would make the
film with his friends Jean-Pierre Léaud (Truffaut's
The 400 Blows,
Stolen Kisses,
Bed and Board,
Love on the Run) and Bernadette Lafont (A
Gorgeous Girl Like Me,
Masques,
Les Bonnes Femmes) - who has been called "the face of French
New Wave". He also brought in his ex-lover, a literature student,
Françoise Lebrun who had never acted before. It is autobiographical and
was inspired by Eustache's various relationships. It is considered a
masterpiece, and was cited as the best film of the 1970s by Cahiers du
cinéma. The Mother and the Whore was ranked the second greatest
French film of all time by a
poll of filmmakers - after Renoir's
Rules of the Game and ahead of Marcel Carné's
Children of Paradise. It has only seemed to grow in stature over
the years and is unusual that it has been so scarce on disc before -
even DVD (by the way, Criterion is also selling it, simultaneously, in a
double DVD package
HERE.) Criterion's 4K UHD
and Blu-ray
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Menus / Extras
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CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
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More full resolution (1920 X 1080) Blu-ray Captures for DVDBeaver Patreon Supporters HERE
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Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from: Also available on 4K UHD which includes this Blu-ray Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | Criterion - Region FREE - 4K UHD - Region 'A' - Blu-ray |
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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |