Review of Bed and Board (1970) by David F — 07 Oct 2010
Even sub-par Truffaut is better than the best offerings of most other directors. Another chapter in the life of the director's apparent alter-ego, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Leaud), the young protagonist immortalized in the New Wave breakthrough The 400 Blows, this film is a easy-going, leisurely paced snapshot of the early stages of Doinel's marriage to the beautiful Christine (Claude Jade), his lover from Truffaut's earlier work, Stolen Kisses.
Full of deadpan Gallic humor, wry observations and effortless charm, the work is blissfully free of artifice or self-consciousness as it follows Doinel's seemingly carefree domestic life, which masks a restlessness that drives him into the gravitational pull of an exotic Japanese interloper.
A situation that would have made either a tiresome, cliched drama or a embarrassing, vulgar farce in the hands of a lesser director is handled with restraint, detachment and economy under Truffaut's unerring supervision.
Definitely a film for thinking adults.
This review of Bed and Board (1970) was written by David F on 07 Oct 2010.
Bed and Board has generally received very positive reviews.
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