Bed & Board [Domicile Conjugale] **** (1970, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Claude Jade, Hiroko Berghauer) – Classic Movie Review 2589

Bed and Board [Domicile Conjugale] is often highly amusing, perceptive and very touching, though overall perhaps slightly less so than its 1968 predecessor Stolen Kisses (Baisers Volés). Jean-Pierre Léaud again stars as the twentysomething French hero, basically as nice but as self-absorbed and indecisive as ever, in the once more welcome 1970 fourth installment of co-writer/director François Truffaut’s witty semi-autobiographical Antoine Doinel stories.

[Spoiler alert] This time he has got married to his long-time girlfriend Christine Darbon (Claude Jade) and they have a baby. But he becomes a writer and leaves his wife for a Japanese woman, Kyoko (Hiroko Berghauer), with whom he’s having an affair. Antoine to Christine: ‘You are my little sister, you are my daughter, you are my mother.’ Christine to Antoine: ‘I should also have liked to have been your wife.’

Two years after Baisers Volés, Antoine’s convenient but uninspiring marriage with the nice, dull Christine is now deteriorating, despite the birth of their son Alphonse. Antoine’s passion is reserved for the exotic Kyoko, who visits the model boat firm where he works. But it looks like the marriage might survive…

This time the non-political Truffaut makes only passing reference to the new France under Pompidou, though he compensates for this with a variety of portraits of Parisian characters. If the film lacks bite, it makes up for that with a full measure of entertainment and charm – and Léaud has honed his skills into a polished, stylish comedy performance that continually hits home.

The 38-year-old Truffaut seems to be having to work for the charm factor rather than letting it seep through gently as middle age starts to set in. And, in his storyline, a feeling of melancholic sadness has crept over the difficulties along the road to true love and happiness.

Nevertheless, Bed and Board is a treat for Truffaut watchers. His own obvious relish and enjoyment in his material is an infectious civilised pleasure.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2589

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