Board Domicile

Bed and Board ( Domicile conjugal ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Australia ]
$21.99
Australia released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: French ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Filmographies, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: In the fourth installment of Fran���ois Truffaut's Antoine Doniel series, this romantic comedy shows how Antoine (Jean-Pierre L���aud) went from being a mischievous boy to an adorably charming young man of 26. Domicile Conjugal begins with Antoine settling down with Christine (Claude Jade), his girlfriend from the previous film, Baisers vol���s. He finds himself accepted and loved by his wife and her family, so the young couple move in to an apartment building together. They live in a lively neighborhood of interesting characters, such as the old man who never leaves and the opera singer who fights with his wife. Antoine finds work as a florist painting roses, while Christine makes a living by teaching violin lessons. After he gets involved in an accidental fire at the florist's, he gets a new job with an American corporation where he steers radio-controlled boats around a pond all day. A big change occurs when Christine becomes pregnant and gives birth to a baby boy, while Antoine grows increasingly distant. Eventually, he becomes infatuated with a Japanese girl, Kyoko (Hiroko Berghauer), resulting in some shifts in lifestyle. The fifth and final Antoine Doniel film L'Amour en fuite was released in 1979, picking up the story with Antoine after he reaches his thirties.

Bed and Board / Domicile Conjugal / Semeynyi Ochag [ Languages: FRENCH and RUSSIAN ONLY, Subtitles: RUSSIAN] [PAL][REGION 5][IMPORT]
$24.99
Bed and Board (French: Domicile Conjugal) is a 1970 French film directed by Fran���ois 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 L���aud) and Christine (Claude Jade).Collector's Edition DVD [ PAL ][IMPORT]. COVER IS IN RUSSIAN. ORIGINAL DVD BY KARMEN VIDEO.

Domicile Conjugal (Original French Version with English Subtitles)
$10.99
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.

Bed & Board: Domicile Conjugal
$19.98
Asked whether this film would be the last of the Doinel cycle, Truffaut answered (with Claude Jade standing next to him) quote, "with this film, he [Doinel] reached adulthood and there's no reason to go on." Of course, this is completely wrong. He did make another one, "Love on the Run," proving how difficult it is to predict the future course of a creative process. As for the other comment, it was probably meant tongue in cheek: Doinel does indeed "reach adulthood" agewise here but that's not the same thing at all as maturity, which is the point of the film, made with Truffaut's flawless Mozartean touch and clever cinematic style.

Having seen all five, what struck me is that, except for "400 Blows," the stories are as much about Doinel as about the women in his life, played by Marie-France Pisier, Claude Jade, and Dorothee, showing what a charmed life the fellow led and how lucky he was to have crossed paths with so many beautiful women, an autobiographical point because it's well known that Doinel=Truffaut. We come away from this film realizing that encounters with Beauty are not appreciated for what they really are, a favor from the gods. No sooner that his wife, the sweet, delightful, and adorable Christine (Jade), has a baby that Doinel decides to cheat on her with a Japanese woman! Truffaut doesn't properly resolve this matter until later, in "Love on the Run."

A word about the title. "Domicile Conjugal" is a rather literal title in French that does not mean "Bed & Board" or anywhere near that. And yet "Bed & Board" is entirely appropriate given how casually Doinel treats house and home with the lovely Christine and their baby. Bravo to whoever thought of the English title.