Bed and Board

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This article is about a French film. For lodging, see Bed and breakfast.

Bed and Board
Image:Domicile conjugal.jpg original film poster
Directed by	François Truffaut
Produced by	François Truffaut Marcel Berbert
Written by	François Truffaut
Starring	Jean-Pierre Léaud Claude Jade Hiroko Berghauer Daniel Ceccaldi Claire Duhamel
Release date(s)	September 9, 1970 21 December, 1971 (NYC) 8 July, 1971
Running time	100 min
Country	France
Language	French
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Bed and Board (French: Domicile Conjugal) is a 1970 French film directed by François Truffaut. It belongs to Truffaut's series of five films about Antoine Doinel, and directly follows Stolen Kisses, showing the married life of Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) and Christine (Claude Jade).

Synopsis

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Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) married the winsome and intelligent Christine (Claude Jade) from "Stolen Kisses" — what more in a wife could he have asked for? Christine gives violin lessons to children in their living room, and Antoine dyes and sells flowers directly beneath their window. Antoine and Christine are like presexual kids playing at marriage. Whenever we see them in bed together, they’re reading. When he reaches over to touch her breasts it’s only to point out that they don’t match. (He then wants to name them like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza or Laurel and Hardy). Later Christine becomes pregnant. Mindful that Antoine is having an affair with a Japanese beauty, Christine decks herself out as a faux Madame Butterfly to greet him one evening in their apartment. Christine leaves him. Later, she and Antoine are reconciled when they realize that they miss each other's company. Although Antoine ultimately returns to Christine, the ending of the movie is notably un-romantic. The joke is that they’ve become the typical married couple. The future of the relationship is more telling in an earlier scene between Antoine and Christine just after they’ve broken up. He’s been by to visit their son, Alphonse, and he walks her through the now dark and empty courtyard to a cab. She lashes out at him for the first time: “All you know is what you want. A kiss when you want it! Solitude when you want it! I’m not ‘yours on command.’ Not anymore.” He laments how unhappy he’ll be until he can finish his novel. He then declares: “You are my sister, my daughter, my mother.” Christine replies simply, “I’d hoped to be your wife.”

References

The scene that splits between Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) telling a friend about his relationship with his wife and Christine (Claude Jade) doing the same with another friend. Woody Allen had copied this concept from Truffaut for his Annie Hall.

External links

v • d • e The Adventures of Antoine Doinel
The 400 Blows \| Antoine and Colette \| Stolen Kisses \| Bed and Board \| Love on the Run

v • d • e The Films of François Truffaut
1950s	Une Visite • Les Mistons • Une Histoire d'eau • The 400 Blows
1960s	Shoot the Piano Player • Jules and Jim • Antoine and Colette • The Soft Skin • Fahrenheit 451 • The Bride Wore Black • Stolen Kisses • Mississippi Mermaid
1970s	The Wild Child • Bed and Board • Two English Girls • Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me • Day for Night • The Story of Adele H. • Small Change • The Man Who Loved Women • The Green Room • Love on the Run
1980s	The Last Metro • The Woman Next Door • Confidentially Yours
Screenplay only	L'Agence Magique • Breathless • The Little Thief • Belle Époque