Bed & Board: Domicile Conjugal

Rating:
Summary: Love on the Rocks
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Simply Love This Film!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Simply Love This Film!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Claude Jade is brilliant in this bitter Doinel-Adventure.
Review: 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.