Eustache directed two narrative features . '' The Mother and the Whore '' ( '' La maman et la putain '' ) , the first , is a 217-minute rumination on love , relationships , men and women . The film ’s central three-way romance plot focuses on Alexandre ( Jean-Pierre Léaud ) , his girlfriend Marie ( Bernadette Lafont ) and the nurse he meets and falls in love with , Veronika ( Françoise Lebrun ) . Writing in '' Time Out New York '' , Andrew Johnston described his experience in viewing the film in 1999 : “ One of the great , if all-too-infrequent , pleasures of being a film critic is having your mind blown by a film you did n’t expect much from . Such an incident occurred in December 1997 , when I was assigned to review Jean Eustache ’s 1973 film '' The Mother and the Whore '' , then beginning a revival engagement at Film Forum . Yes , I ’d heard that it was a classic of French cinema , but I was n’t exactly thrilled at catching an early-morning screening of a three-hour-and-thirty-five-minute black-and-white foreign-language film that reportedly consisted of little more than people sitting around and talking . Frankly , I was a lot more excited about seeing '' Scream 2 '' that evening . Little did I know , as I eased into my seat , that I was in for one of the most memorable cinematic experiences of my life . ” Eustache ’s second feature , '' Mes petites amoureuses '' ( 1974 ) , was intentionally different from his debut . Shot in color by cinematographer Nestor Almendros ( as opposed to '' The Mother and the Whore '' 's grainy black-and-white ) , the film also features significantly less dialogue and focuses on teenage characters in a rural setting . The film was entered into the 9th Moscow International Film Festival
9th Moscow International Film Festival
9th Moscow International Film Festival
Jean Eustache