Bed and Board

1971 "First Truffaut gave us The 400 Blows. Then Stolen Kisses... and now Bed and Board."
7.4| 1h37m| PG| en
Details

Parisian everyman Antoine Doinel has married his sweetheart Christine Darbon, and the newlyweds have set up a cozy domestic life of selling flowers and giving violin lessons while Antoine fitfully works on his long-gestating novel. As Christine becomes pregnant with the couple's first child, Antoine finds himself enraptured with a young Japanese beauty. The complications change the course of their relationship forever.

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Reviews

Whitech It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.
PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
thinbeach It appears I've walked straight into the middle of a series, not knowing beforehand this was a sequel to Stolen Kisses, which I haven't yet seen. A pity, but in the spirit of Antoine Doinel, I shall accept this misfortune nonchalantly! For about two thirds its runtime Bed and Board is very enjoyable, full of charming characters saying humorous and delightful things. Little moments of relationship interplay are handled with the deftest touch by Truffaut, the acting is first class, and the small Parisian courtyard and surrounding apartments come alive. Unfortunately the film takes an all too simple turn, as Antoine cheats on his wife with an Asian woman, and much of the good grace it has earnt to that point dissipates. To close with a shot of Antoine and Christine's life mimicking the older couple they live alongside was clever storytelling, but wrapped in a very cynical moral. A masterpiece would have had something more brilliant to say.
rjyelverton "Board" almost becomes a great film, but is dragged down by a regrettable, forgettable romance between Antoine and a stereotypically exotic, distant Asian temptress. Christine and Antoine are now married and "Board" will focus on the simultaneous distance and close connection that marriage can create. Antione finds himself bored with his wife sexually--"Bed and Bored"--without the challenge of pursuit, but ultimately finds himself longing the connection and comfort he shares with his lover.While "Kisses" featured a frequently slapdash editing style, Truffaut's direction in "Board" is fluid and dynamic. It opens with a delightful sequence following Christine's feet down a city street as we are cleverly introduced to Mrs. Doinel for the first time. "Kisses" is often chaotic and oddly directed while Truffaut appears to be in full control of this installment. The camera pans and swoops with precision and grace and the editing is concise. This film features some of the most assured direction of the series.Much of the film's action takes place in Antoine and Christine's neighborhood: a collection of apartment buildings with windows and doors emptying into a shared courtyard. It's a small, boisterous community whose characters in their boisterousness and choleric temper recall a Fellini ensemble. While in this neighborhood, the film enchants, but then we are taken outside of it and into a regrettable storyline involving another dead end job for Antoine and a boring affair.Antoine and Christine anchor the film and keep you watching. Leaud still charms and scenes late in the film when he realizes he loves Christine deeply, though his lust may have cooled, are touching and painful. The two portions of the film inside and outside the marriage are uncomfortably incongruous, but Truffaut's assured direction and the film's ensemble ultimately redeem the uneven film.
RARubin 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.
MartinHafer Unfortunately, I saw this film AFTER I saw the other Antoine Doinel films by Truffaut. Because it was seen out of sequence, I KNEW that Antoine was destined to destroy his happy marriage with his philandering. So, the movie was a wistful "what might have been" throughout for me. And this is a REAL shame, as the first 2/3 of the movie really captivated me. It was charming, the characters likable and I really found myself rooting for them--even though I KNEW it wouldn't last. If only Truffaut had resisted the cynicism that so permeated the French New Wave of the 1960s and 1970s--it was as if, according to an unwritten rule, they HAD to make the story a real downer. I don't mind movies that end sadly, but after a healthy dose of "marriage and love stink" movies from Truffaut (and many of his contemporaries), I can't help but feel depressed and wonder if I should spend more time watching Japanese, American or other types of cinema. CAN'T they just live happily ever after SOME TIMES!?