Bed & Board: Domicile Conjugal

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The fourth film in François Truffaut's quasi-autobiographical Antoine Doinel cycle finds the idealistic child-man (played by Truffaut's alter ego and French new wave icon Jean-Pierre Léaud) married to his sweetheart Christine (Claude Jade) and still plugging away at odd jobs. When his experiments in the florist trade burn his bouquets to a smoky black ruin, he decides that it's time for another trade, and lands a job sending radio-controlled toy boats around a miniature harbor mock-up. It's about that time that he learns of his impending fatherhood, but he throws a monkey wrench into his new happiness when he becomes obsessed with a beautiful young Japanese woman (Hiroku Berghauer). Truffaut enlivens Doinel's courtyard apartment with the bustle and business of neighbors, creating a warm sense of community reminiscent of the works of Jean Renoir. He also pays homage to comic auteur Jacques Tati in meticulously constructed comic bits and a hilarious cameo by Tati's famous character, M. Hulot. However, he tempers the giddy screwball kookiness that characterized the previous film in the cycle, Stolen Kisses, with a less forgiving disposition toward Antoine's passionate irresponsibility and emotional impulsiveness. In one of Truffaut's finest moments ever, he plays out a conversation between the separated but still in love couple with a hard-earned sense of reflective maturity: "I love you," she confesses, "but I don't want to see you." It's a comedy with serious edges as Truffaut decides it's time for Antoine to grow up. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Bed and Board.......2007-07-03

The fourth installment of Truffaut's Antoine Doinel cycle, which began with "The 400 Blows" (featuring Léaud as a child), this bittersweet romantic comedy is full of smartly observed details that will ring true to anyone who's ever cohabited with a cherished mate. Léaud is charming as always, and Jade's a dreamy vision. Hiroko Berghauer also enchants as the object of Doinel's potentially housebreaking infatuation. Watch for famed French comic-director Jacques Tati in a brilliant cameo as M. Hulot. A simple, artful take on the growing pains felt in love and marriage.

Love on the Rocks.......2004-08-18

Francois Truffaut is one of my favorite directors. His films all have likeable characters and lighthearted material that one can simply smile while watching an entire film.

The "Antonie Doinel" series has given us some great films. My favorite would be "400 Blows" followed by "Love on the Run" and "Stolen Kisses" but for some reason "Bed & Board" just didn't live up to my expectations.

I had to search a long time to find this film, because I didn't want to buy it first without seeing it, as I waited my expectations grew higher and higher.

"Bed & Board" has Jean-Pierre Leaud and Claude Jade married and expecting a child. Life seems perfect. They are one of those extremely happy young couples, you know, the kind you hate to see in public. We suspect they are deeply in love. He even likes her parents!

But soon after their baby is born domestic problems ensue for the Doinel household. Antonie has started an affair with someone he met from work, Kyoko (Hiroko Berghauer).

There was something about the way this situation was presented that bothered me. First of all, we don't really know why he did it. If you want to shrug it off as "one of those young dumb mistakes" why doesn't the movie push that idea more?

The movie doesn't explore the situation to its fullest and show more hardships faced in young love. The movie goes easy on Doinel and doesn't make Jade seem real. She seems all to understanding.

"Bed & Board" is enjoyable, especially if you are already a Truffaut fan, but I don't think these characters here are as enjoyable to watch as the ones in 'Love on the Run" or "Stolen Kisses". Their is a lightness that is missing. A certain charm.

Leaud and Jade are perfect in the beginning of the film. They play their character correctly and do bring out that sweetness so it's disappointing when their characters begin to lose some of that likeability because the script written by Truffaut, Claude de Givray, and Bernard Revon seem to lose focus with these people.

Watch "Bed & Board" if you've seen the other Doinel films and honestly tell me those other films were not satisfying. Fans will enjoy the movie, as do I, but on a small scale because I know Truffaut has done better.

Bottom-line: Not one of the best films in the "Antonie Doniel" series, but than again it's hard to top films like "400 Blows" and "Love on the Run" still worthwhile for Truffaut fans.

Simply Love This Film!.......2003-04-16

I simply love this film! Everything in this film (music, dialogues, lighting, angles, actors/actresses, costumes, locations)fits perfectly. Claude Jade is beautiful in the film. By coincident, I saw this film right after a long trip from France. Made me relive my whole French experience all over again.

Claude Jade is brilliant in this bitter Doinel-Adventure........1999-06-28

It's one of the best movies, I'll ever seen. The couple of "Stolen Kisses", Jean-Pierre Léaud and Claude Jade, is brilliant. You want to the how a director MUST work with actors? See this bitter comedy about the marriage.

Bed and Board (Domicile conjugal) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.4 Import - Australia ]

Average customer rating:

Bed and Board (Domicile conjugal) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.4 Import - Australia ]
Director: François Truffaut
Manufacturer: Umbrella
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000BMUJ26

Product Description

Australia released, PAL/Region 4 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. Languages: o English (subtitles) o French (Dolby Digital 2.0) Synopsis: In the fourth installment of François Truffaut's Antoine Doniel series, this romantic comedy shows how Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) went from being a mischievous boy to an adorably charming young man of 26. Domicile Conjugal begins with Antoine settling down with Christine (Claude Jade), his girlfriend from the previous film, Baisers volés. He finds himself accepted and loved by his wife and her family, so the young couple move in to an apartment building together. They live in a lively neighborhood of interesting characters, such as the old man who never leaves and the opera singer who fights with his wife. Antoine finds work as a florist painting roses, while Christine makes a living by teaching violin lessons. After he gets involved in an accidental fire at the florist's, he gets a new job with an American corporation where he steers radio-controlled boats around a pond all day. A big change occurs when Christine becomes pregnant and gives birth to a baby boy, while Antoine grows increasingly distant. Eventually, he becomes infatuated with a Japanese girl, Kyoko (Hiroko Berghauer), resulting in some shifts in lifestyle. The fifth and final Antoine Doniel film L'Amour en fuite was released in 1979, picking up the story with Antoine after he reaches his thirties. Special Features: o Filmographies o Interactive Menu o Scene Access o Trailer(s)

Domicile Conjugal (Original French Version with English Subtitles)

Average customer rating:

Eye Shadow

Domicile Conjugal (Original French Version with English Subtitles)

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000BOQWZC

Product Description

Antoine Doinel is now 26. He married Christine, who teaches the violin. They will have a baby. In a new job, Antoine meets Kyoto, a japanese woman and fells in love with her. They have a love affair. Christine discovers it and Antoine leaves the house...

Customer Reviews:

Eye Shadow.......2006-04-26

No #4 in the Antoine series, five films beginning with 400 Blows, Antoine, the dreamer, has got himself a fine young wife, his opposite really, prim and well mannered. Their romantic first year is a series of funny neighbors and comical whimsy. I learned how to die the color of flowers, more interesting than one would think. I learned about hurrying a wife along by throwing her coat and bag down a stairway. I learned that relationships go wrong when one gives in to lust. Hey, I knew that.

Jean-Pierre Leaud has a physical resemblance to Truffaut. These episodic films, the ones in color that I have seen remind one of a HBO mini-series. His autobiographical Doinel is from a broken family. In the 400 blows, a masterpiece really of the New French Cinema in the late 50's, we see the lonely kid grasping for understanding. In subsequent films, we see the young adult Doinel grasp at relationship and career. The next beautiful woman is always around the corner. In Bread and Board, the femme fatale is 70's Japanese Go Go Chick, Hiroko Berghauer. Notice the heavy eye make-up on the women that make them look like zombies.

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