One of the many ambiguities in this film is whether Marie (Catherine Deneuve) is Pierre's mother or his sister. She looks mature enough to be his mother, but he addresses her as sister. Their mildly touchy-feely encounter on the lawn at the beginning, and his conversation with her in the bathtub scene seem more like fraternal than oedipal encounters. A number of reviewers on this board say mother.
Any ideas?
Marie is indeed his mother.The film is based on the book "Pierre,Or the Ambiguities" and Pola X is nothing but the short form of "PIERRE, OR LE AMBIGUITIES (Tenth Draft)".In the book it was a mother and son relationship and in the film too.
And alone and without his nest shall the eagle fly across the sun.share
I thought she was the mother of Pierre and the Step-mother of Isabelle. She seems like the sort of character who would want to be called sister not only to be kept feeling young, but to have a closer bond with her son.
"Thank God I'm an atheist"
Bow down to Bunuel
Borderline obsessive
SPOILER ALERT: The 'ambiguity' of Marie's relationship hounded me also!...thought I'd missed clarification elsewhere in the movie! Maybe that's part of the magic. Did anyone catch that when telling Pierre of the need to go through the estate papers, Marie --talking to Pierre- referred to 'YOUR father' [emphasis mine], rather than 'Father' or 'our father' for BOTH of them? Wooooaaah!
shareMarie was the widow of Valombres and the mother of their son Pierre, so her referring to the motorbike as “your father’s” was perfectly normal. Calling each other brother and sister, like her nudity in his presence and their touching each other on her bed, was however less normal.
This ambiguity over incest foreshadows the relationship of Pierre and Isabelle, where it is never certain that Isabelle was in fact the daughter of Valombres by another woman.
This ambiguity over incest foreshadows the relationship of Pierre and Isabelle, where it is never certain that Isabelle was in fact the daughter of Valombres by another woman.
I never read the original book but I was under the impression that Marie is Pierre's biological mother and the fact that they would call each other "my sister" and "my brother" and them having an unusually intimate relationship are an indication that they're relationship was borderline incestuous...but they still did not cross the physical line, unlike Pierre's very physical incestuous relationship with his half-sister Isabelle.
share