Review of Bed and Board (1970) by Edgar C — 31 Jul 2014

Antoine Doinel at a pay phone: Hello? Hello, may I speak to Jean? Ah, hello madame Eustache. May I speak to Jean Eustache, please? Please tell him Antoine Doinel is a father! Yes yes, tell him Antoine Doinel has a little boy. Thank you. Don't forget to give him the message.

*Edgar's brain starts to work*.

Ohhhh, I get it! Oh these crazy references y'all!

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Well, the film joyously opens with Christine Darbon from the previous installment Stolen Kisses (1968) as the new Christine Darbon Doinel. So yes, as implied by the famous cover of the film, the girlfriend from Stolen Kisses is now a wife. It definitely has been a long way since Antoine ran to the sea in 1959.

There is a theory circulating that claims that as the "Antoine Doinel series" kept moving forward, the character itself started to resemble Truffaut less and became closer to Jean-Pierre Léaud himself. Of course, this is impossible for us to know for sure unless we had met both Truffaut and Léaud personally back in the 60s. It is a curious thought, however, because Léaud was 15 years old in The 400 Blows, and 26 by the time Domicile Conjugal came out. Léaud was famous for improvising his dialogues and providing ideas to any director that worked with him. Truffaut, therefore, not only had to adapt his new character to his changing growth stages, but to a real-life changing Paris, changing social trends, changing unstable times in France as a nation, changing film censors and a changing Léaud in real life. No wonder why his style began to mutate, and rather unevenly.

This implied that his films got more accessible each time. Although the free-spirited and improvisatory magic of the adventurous Stolen Kisses wasn't maintained 100%, this is definitely his funniest film. The gags and comedic moments remind of the subtlety of Tati in Mon Oncle (1958), although not as masterful or precise. Still, this movie still has the ability to transport anybody to a much simpler world where problems are kept in proportion and both Léaud and Jade kept growing in their careers.

77/100.