The film revolves around a love triangle between a man and two women where it plays into post-1960s ideals as well as the rise of the feminist movement in the early 1970s. It is a film that explores the dynamic of a threesome where a man tries to find his ideal partner in two different women. Jean Eustache’s screenplay does not have a conventional plot as the narrative is driven by monologues and dialogues as it relates to its three central characters in the unemployed intellectual Alexandre (Jean-Pierre Leaud), his girlfriend in Marie (Bernadette Lafont) who works a dress shop, and a sexually-liberated nurse in Veronika (Francoise Lebrun). The script plays into Alexandre going through his own issues with Marie while his attempts to reunite with his former girlfriend Gilberte (Isabelle Weingarten) were futile. While walking through the city, he notices Veronika at a café drinking as he would meet her where they would keep their affair a secret from Marie though she is suspicious that Alexandre has met someone. She would eventually meet Veronika as she is initially not fond of her but eventually realizes her worth in the film’s third function as it plays into some of the freedoms she has as a woman.
Eustache’s direction is entrancing for its minimalist approach where there are not a lot of wide shots in favor of intimacy through its medium shots, close-ups, and static shots. Shot on location in Paris, Eustache creates a film that plays into the ideas of relationships between a man and two women as there are a lot of dialogues and monologues that occur. Notably as it would go on for several minutes during the film as the camera would often remain still. Eustache’s direction would rarely have movements in the camera unless the characters are walking in the streets or to go from one room to another. The approach to long shots and a minimalist presentation with a 218-minute running time would make scenes ponderous at times since Eustache wanted to create something that feels confessional. Especially given the subject matter and the many contradictions of these characters where Alexandre is pretentious in his views on art and sex, yet he is also someone that is also traditional. He is also a manipulative person in his attempts to women where it would frustrate Marie who can see through his bullshit even though she is just as bad as him.
Editing with co-editor Denise de Casabianca, Eustache would create a presentation that is the antithesis of the editing and filmmaking style of the French New Wave for a style that is akin to realism. It is a style that also sort of plays like a documentary even though it is fiction, yet Eustache does play into the sexual politics between men and women in how they view each other. Eustache also maintains a sense of ambiguity in its finale as it relates to Alexandre and his view on women where he still has a lot to learn about love, commitment, and understanding. Even though both Marie and Veronika are also flawed in their own views about sex and love, they manage it better than Alexandre who is full of contradictions. Overall, Eustache creates a compelling and unsettling film about a love triangle that becomes toxic.
Cinematographer Pierre Lhomme does brilliant work with the film’s black-and-white photography with its emphasis on realism in shooting on available light for some of the exterior scenes set at night as well as the way some of the daytime interior/exterior scenes are presented. Costume designer Catherine Garnier does excellent work with the costumes from the stylish clothing that Marie and Veronika wear to contrast their personalities with the latter often wearing all black. The sound work of Jean-Pierre Ruh, Paul Laine, and Nara Kollery do amazing work with the sound as it captures everything presented on location including the music that is played on film. Among the music that is played on the film ranging from classical music, pop, and rock from acts like Zarah Leander, Damia, Jacques Offenbach, Edith Piaf, Frehel, Marlene Dietrich, and Deep Purple with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
The film’s marvelous ensemble cast feature some notable small and appearances from Jean Eustache as a man at a supermarket/Gilberte’s husband, Andre Techine and Jean-Claude Biette as a couple of men at a restaurant wanting to talk with Veronika, Genevieve Mnich as a friend of Veronika, Jean-Noel Picq as a fan of the composer Offenbach that Alexandre meets, Jacques Renard as a friend of Alexandre who shares the same intellectual views as Alexandre, and Isabelle Weingarten as a former girlfriend of Alexandre in Gilberte who is upset over Alexandre’s lack of commitment in their relationship. Francoise Lebrun is great as Veronika as a French-Polish nurse who is also sexually-open in her ideas of sex to cope with avoiding commitment until her affair with Alexandre has her thinking about wanting a relationship with him and Marie until she sees the many faults from Alexandre’s views on love.
Bernadette Lafont is phenomenal as Marie as a dress shop worker who allows Alexandre to live with her as she has a cynical view on relationships though she loves Alexandre while later becoming fond of Veronika in her openness in realizing Alexandre’s own faults. Finally, there’s Jean-Pierre Leaud in a tremendous performance as Alexandre as an unemployed intellectual who is in love with two different women where he is hoping to win them over with his own views only to be filled with contradictions about everything to the point that his attempts to manipulate his lovers become futile.
Le maman et la putain is an incredible film by Jean Eustache that features a trio of great performances from Jean-Pierre Leaud, Bernadette Lafont, and Francoise Lebrun. Along with its visuals, realistic and minimalistic presentation, and its study of sexual politics and desires in early 1970s France. The film is not an easy watch due to a presentation that requires patience as well as the fact that it goes into uncomfortable subject matters about sex and love. In the end, Le maman et la putain is a remarkable film by Jean Eustache.
© thevoid99 2025
The film is the simple story of the final days of an elderly couple as they both cope with health issues as well as their deteriorating conditions along with the fact that they’re drifting apart. It is a film that follows the lives of this couple as they spend their days together with the husband (Dario Argento) is finishing up a book about films and dreams while his wife (Francoise Lebrun) is tending to the home having retired from her work as a psychologist. Yet, a recent event where she was supposed to go to the pharmacy only to get lost at a market raises concerns among other things as it is clear the wife is suffering from dementia while the husband is dealing with heart issues. Adding to the chaos are incidents relating to the wife’s dementia that only makes the husband go into panic mode as their son Stephane (Alex Lutz) would make a few visits with his own son Kiki (Kylian Dheret). Gaspar Noe’s screenplay is largely straightforward in its narrative yet he would do something on a visual level that would make the story far more unconventional.
Noe’s direction opens with the husband and wife having a lunch at their Parisian apartment balcony as they look outside and relax as it then cuts to a performance of Francoise Hardy singing Mon Amie la Rose as it plays into this blissful feel as it is shot on full-frame ratio and it then goes into a 2:40:1 widescreen aspect ratio after 7 minutes where the screen suddenly splits into two. Much of the action that occurs between the couple separately takes place in real time as well as their own individual activities with the husband often talking on the phone to a publisher or lamenting his thoughts on a former lover in Claire (Corrine Bruand). During a moment when he’s on the phone, the wife is crushing pills for some medication for him to take though Stephane suggests that she’s trying to poison him as there’s a lot of ambiguity into what she is doing or does she really know what she’s doing.
Much of Noe’s direction utilizes largely some long shots as well as close-ups and medium shots to maintain a sense of intimacy including a conversation between the husband, wife, and son over an incident involving the oven. It’s a scene that goes on for minutes yet the camera never moves in its two different angles as it is shot on real time where Noe plays into this growing deterioration between the husband and wife. It adds to this minimalist approach that Noe does in order to capture a family coming undone as it is often told through perspective of the husband and wife. In the film’s third act, it also goes into Stephane’s perspective as someone who is struggling raising his own son as well as having his own problems that prevents from being there for his parents. Its third act is expected in what Noe explores in these final days of this couple yet its final images are more startling into a life that was once so vibrant and loving only to deteriorate due to things beyond their control. Overall, Noe crafts a heartbreaking yet intoxicating film about the final days of an elderly couple.
Cinematographer Benoit Debie does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography as it aims for a naturalistic look for many of its interior settings at night as well as some exterior scenes at night where Debie aims for something straightforward rather than something stylish. Editor Denis Bedlow does amazing work with the editing in its unconventional usage of jump-cuts to help bring some abrupt rhythms to some long shots as well as give the film an offbeat pace in some parts of the film. Production designer Jean Rabasse, with set decorator Nathalie Roubaud and art director Anna Prat, does excellent work with the look of the apartment that the old couple live in that is filled with books, film posters, video tapes, and all sorts of things as it is messy yet is full of life. Costume designer Corrine Burand does terrific work with the costumes as it is largely casual that also include the robes that the elderly couple wears and a few other bits that play into the world they’re in.
Visual effects supervisor Pierre Buffin does nice work with a lot of the film’s minimal visual effects with the scene of the screen splitting into two being a key moment along with a few bits of set-dressing for some of the long shots. Sound editor Ken Yasumoto does superb work with the sound in maintaining a low-key and naturalistic atmosphere in the apartment as well as how music is heard from a stereo or from a location outside of the apartment. Music supervisors Steve Bouyer and Pascal Mayer do wonderful work with the film’s soundtrack that is largely a mix of music ranging from electronic pieces, indie rock cuts, score music from films including a few by Ennio Morricone, and a song from Francoise Hardy as much of the film’s music is presented on location.
The film’s remarkable ensemble cast feature some notable small roles from Corrine Bruand as a former lover of the husband whom he meets at a dinner with other writers, Kamel Benchemekh as an attorney that appears late in the film, Nathalie Roubaud as a junkie that Stephane meets, and Kylian Dheret as Stephane’s son Kiki. Alex Lutz is excellent as the son Stephane as a man who is trying to help his parents though he is also someone struggling to maintain his own finances and such as well as doing what he can to help his parents. Finally, there’s the duo of Dario Argento and Francoise Lebrun in phenomenal performances in their respective roles as the unnamed husband and wife. Argento brings this sense of awareness of a man that realizes something isn’t right as well as coping with his own health while Lebrun has this sense of wonderment of a woman who doesn’t know what she is doing as well as having trouble remembering due to her growing dementia. Argento and Lebrun bring in a chemistry that is key to the film as a couple who love each other but are both increasingly ill with the old man dealing with his health and the old woman unsure of who this man is as they are the highlight of the film.
Vortex is a sensational film from Gaspar Noe that features great leading performances from Dario Argento and Francoise Lebrun. Along with its ensemble supporting cast, somber visuals, its minimalist approach to storytelling, and unconventional presentation. It is a film that doesn’t aim for melodrama in favor of something far more eerie in its exploration of a couple’s final days as it also plays into this idea of death looming and there’s no way to avoid it. In the end, Vortex is a phenomenal film from Gaspar Noe.
Gaspar Noe Films: Carne - I Stand Alone - Irreversible - Enter the Void - Love (2015 film) - Climax - Lux Aeterna – The Auteurs #48: Gaspar Noe
© thevoid99 2023
