Review of The Mother and the Whore

I found this French film listed in the book 1001 Movies You Movies You Must See Before You Die, I remembered both because of the memorable title, and the fact that it was one of the longest films, at three and half hours long, I was hoping it would be worthwhile. Basically in Paris, unemployed young man Alexandre (Jean-Pierre Léaud), who has memories of the civil unrest during May 1968. He is trying to persuade his former love Gilberte (Isabelle Weingarten) to marry him, Gilberte instead chooses to marry another man, Alexandre meanwhile is involved with a live-in girlfriend called Marie (Bernadette Lafont). At the highly popular Les Deux Magots one day, Alexandre tries an unsuccessful attempt to reconcile with Gilberte, there he meets Polish French twenty-something nurse Veronika (Françoise Lebrun), she is highly promiscuous and makes advances towards him. During the summer of 1972, Alexandre and Marie are naked in bed together in their apartment, when Veronika visits, Marie lets her in, Veronika insults both of them, but acknowledges she is not pure herself. The three begin a ménage à trois (household of three), a domestic arrangement for the three of them to have a sexual relationship with each other and sleep in the same bed. Veronika assures Alexandre she and Marie both love him and tell him to be happier with his situation and life. Although Marie maintains her indifference to Alexandre's affairs, she quickly changes her mind when she sees how close he getting to Veronika, Marie and Alexandre grow estranged. The three of them sit together, Veronika tries to reassure Marie about her looks and body, she tearfully speaks about her belief that no women are truly whores, and that love is meaningless unless a child is produced. Also starring Jacques Renard as Alexandre's Friend. Léaud gives a good performance as the womanising lothario, it is a pretty simple story of a man who can manipulate two women into loving him, one a good nurturing woman, the other a woman who turns to prostitution, it is very long, but there are some fairly memorable scenes, and it does represent the sexual revolution of the time well, all together it is a worthwhile drama. Very good!