Again, another boring ‘masterpiece’ on the Sight and Sound Top 100 list, but not as bad as some of the entries on there (im talking about you 8 1/2, you Jeanne Dielman, you A Brighter Summer’s Day, you Beau Travail, you Andrei Rublev).

The fact that this is on so many people’s lists of top films can be explained by the fact that they are allowing pretentious filmmakers and critics to dictate their opinions.

It’s 3 hours of boring conversations. Nothing cinematic here. It could have been a radio play and it would have had the same effect.

If you are a budding filmmaker, u can skip this one because you won’t learn anything.

The characters mention Murnau at one point. Go watch his films and see what cinema is and can be.

There’s nothing of value here. But for some reason i didn’t hate it as much as i was expecting to.

3/10 - can cross it off my list and will never watch it again.

Like a dinner date with a friend, this lasted 3 ½ hours, there was lots of talking and I tuned out much of it.

Speaking of, I'm glad I speak French because if I'd had to read the subtitles of this gab-fest for 3½ hours, it would've done me in.

You could tell it was a classic French film because it was directed and performed more like a play than a movie.

I'm anti sexist with all the vehemence of someone who was ignorantly sexist in his youth, so was relieved to see they avoided the sexist traps that filled this story from 1973. On top of that, I appreciated how the nativité and obsession reminded me of me in my 20s.

When it comes right down to it, I enjoyed The Mother and the Whore more than I'd expected. While it's a clichéd French art film (and maybe the origin of the clichés?) with its black and white nudity chain smoking blah blah, I found its analysis of relationships more intriguing than I would've thought.

[Filmin] A passionately cold film, contradictory in the speeches of love that are interpreted with apparent indifference. If Alexander is the main character who pursues women he is attracted to ("he likes blondes with blue eyes"), it is they who end up silencing his talkativeness and sustaining relationships. The disenchantment of a ménage à trois that is also a reflection of the disenchantment of a generation.