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Directed by: Jean Eustache Starring: Bernadette Lafont, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Françoise Lebrun There's an awful lot of talking in La Maman et la Putain. 3 1/2 hours of talk, talk, talk, talk. Mind you, I don't necessarily have anything against that. One of my favorite films, Scenes From a Marriage, is little more than talking for 6 hours, but in that case the acting is extraordinary, the dialogue is frighteningly real, and the relationship resonates with the viewer. The acting in Eustache's film is fair at best. Jean-Pierre Leaud in particular seems to care little about his performance. The dialogue consists mostly of Leaud's wannabe-deep observations, and his lover's telling him -- over and over again -- how much she's been hosed. Boy, does she gently caress, and she can't wait to tell you about it. Veronika fucks and fucks and fucks. Alexandre talks and talks and talks. Meanwhile, the only sympathetic character in the film, Marie (presumably the "Mother" figure of the title), doesn't get nearly enough screen time. Which brings us to the relationship. This is a film very much tied to its era, the age of sexual revolution. It'd be hard for anyone in this day and age to relate to this scenario. At first, I just wanted to smack all of them. To the film's credit, however, the characters do eventually come to their senses. Well, two of them do... okay, maybe just one. Perhaps they DON'T come to their senses at all, but at least they begin to show some glimmer of sense. So in that regard, the film succeeds. I still wouldn't ever bother to watch it again though. With the subpar acting, the excessive dialogue, and the failure to use the medium of film to any sort of advantage, this would have been better suited as a short story... which could be digested just as completely in a quarter of the time. RATING: 2.5 PROS: potentially interesting premise; good ideas CONS: ultimately a waste of time ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070359/
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Feb 3, 2005 23:53
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 17:42 |
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