Everyone that has (or has had) a mother of considerable beauty, with a strong presence in their lives and/or where a father figure is flawed one and/or doesn't exist at all, can immediately understand and relate to this spectacular drama. From the very first minutes we can witness the connection between mother and son, a bond so strong that goes beyond words. This movie has been badly reviewed and analyzed until this day. I will humbly try to correct some points made by others. The young kid in the movie begins his descent into drugs not because he misses her dad, but because he wants to numb himself and escape the sexual lust and feelings he has towards her mom. You can watch it very clearly in the scene between them when he couldn't inject heroin in his arm due to a lack of a needle and it's all covered in fever. He then proceeds to guide her mom's hand to his groin. It's clear then the real motive why he was in that condition. Another point most people don't seem to recognize is that the mother doesn't recur to the incest to get close to his son. She does so because she shared the same sexual desire towards him. She had witness an incestuous relationship between his boyfriend and his mother and accepted it because deep inside she knew she had it (those impulses) in her too.
This movie's themes and subject matter are taboo to this day, but I for once I'm grateful that those kind of themes are covered at all in an elegant, profound and non-graphic film such as this one. This is not a soft porn flick nor it is made for titillating audiences. The photography, the music and Jill Clayburg's performance are like the icing on a cake. This is one of those rare movies that's so rich in content that it deserves repeated viewing in order to fully understand all it's values and details.
This movie's themes and subject matter are taboo to this day, but I for once I'm grateful that those kind of themes are covered at all in an elegant, profound and non-graphic film such as this one. This is not a soft porn flick nor it is made for titillating audiences. The photography, the music and Jill Clayburg's performance are like the icing on a cake. This is one of those rare movies that's so rich in content that it deserves repeated viewing in order to fully understand all it's values and details.