Director: Jean Eustache
Year Released: 1973
Rating: 4.0
Complex film about human interaction and sexual relationships: main character doesn't know what he wants in life, and is unhappy with his live-in girlfriend (the "mother" in the kitchen) so he cheats on her with a nurse (the "whore" in the bedroom). What follows is a three-and-a-half hour film with a limited number of locations: the café, his apartment and the nurse's apartment, and contains wall-to-wall conversations; this sounds like it's pure agony, but Eustache's dialogue is composed of stories and lively anecdotes and Jean-Pierre Leaud makes a great 'anti-hero': he's so screwed up you almost want to step into the screen and smack some sense into him. While the length becomes a little oppressive near the end, it isn't so excessive that I became antsy and wanted to stop it - as a matter of fact, the atmosphere and lies and repetition and dull chatter and days spent drinking and wasting time hit very close (perhaps too close) to home and at this particular time in my life.
