The Mother And The Whore - Criterion Collection Blu-Ray

After the French New Wave and the upheavals of May 1968 came Jean Eustache's almost religiously revered magnum opus. In his long unavailable production, ranging from documentaries about his home village to quasi-autobiographical narrative films, Eustache was a pioneerin a straightforward and unflinching form of realism. This film, the culmination of this innovative style, follows Alexandre (Jean-Pierre Léaud), a Parisian pseudo-intellectual who lives with his tempestuous girlfriend Marie (Bernadette Lafont), even as he begins a flirtation with the liberated Veronika (Françoise Lebrun), leading the three into an emotionally turbulent love triangle. Through carefully measured long takes and candid dialogue, Eustache captures a generation navigating the disillusionment of the 1970s and, in the process, achieves an intimacy so deep that it cuts.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed mono audio track

- Presented on a Blu-ray disc with the film and bonus material

- New interview with actress Françoise Lebrun

- New conversation with filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin and screenwriter Rachel Kushner

- Program about the restoration of the film

- Segments from the French television series Pour le cinéma with Lebrun, director Jean Eustache, and actors Bernadette Lafont and Jean-Pierre Léaud

- Trailer for the film

- New English translation of subtitles

- PLUS: An essay by critic Lucy Sante and an introduction to the film by Eustache

- New cover by Eric Skillman