"A ruthlessly sharp-eyed view of chic, supposedly liberated sexual relationships … informed throughout by Eustache's striking visual intelligence." – Time Out London

The Mother and the Whore, Jean Eustache's novelistic, three-and-a-half-hour exploration of relationships in the sexual revolution's aftermath, is one of cinema's most fiercely intelligent works: a searing, compassionate analysis of the clash between liberty and human failings.

Here, the French New Wave ended as it began, with a troubling, affecting performance by Jean-Pierre Léaud. No longer the world-weary adolescent of The 400 Blows, Léaud's character here is a complex mix of pretence and vulnerability; a misfit once more cast adrift after the brief synthesis of May 1968. His performance – and that of female leads Bernadette Lafont and Françoise Lebrun – is worth the price of admission alone.

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival.

For further information on The Mother and the Whore, read the Senses of Cinema dossier.