Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		3.5

Bed & Board Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 20, 2014

François Truffaut's "Bed and Board" a.k.a. "Domicile conjugal" (1962) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye. The supplemental features on the disc include an introduction by Serge Toubiana, president of Cinémathèque française; audio commentary with actress Claude Jade and scenarist Claude de Givray; the short film "Antoine and Colette" (1962); audio commentary by actress Marie-France Pisier; and more. In French, with optional English subtitles for the two features. Region-B "locked".

"One's bigger than the other..."

Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Leaud, Love on the Run, Masculin Féminin) has married the love of his life, Christine Darbon (the beautiful Claude Jade, Stolen Kisses), and found a job with a local florist. Christine has also started giving private violin lessons in their tiny apartment to help the family budget. Both are genuinely happy and enjoy their lives.

One day, Christine reveals to Antoine that very soon he is going to be a father. Realizing that they will have new expenses, Antoine applies for a new job. Due to a misunderstanding he gets the job and shortly after meets Kyoko (Hiroko Berghauer), a stunningly beautiful Japanese girl, who invites him to her place. They fall in love for different reasons.

Meanwhile, Christine gives birth to a beautiful baby boy. Then she accidentally discovers that Antoine has been cheating on her and promptly informs him that he must pack up his bags and leave. They continue seeing each other while Antoine gradually realizes that Kyoko isn’t the girl he wants to spend the rest of his life with. Eventually, he returns to Christine determined to be the father his son deserves.

Henri Langlois, the founder and director of Cinematheque francaise, whom Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard defended during the shooting of Stolen Kisses (after he was unceremoniously sacked by the then-current French Minister of Culture Andre Malraux), is directly responsible for the existence of Bed and Board. Langlois liked Stolen Kisses so much that he asked Truffaut to consider reuniting Antoine and Christine in a new film. Two years after Stolen Kisses -- and after completing Mississippi Mermaid and The Wild Child -- Truffaut did precisely that.

Though not as effective as the rest of the films in the Antoine Doinel series, Bed and Board still has plenty of charm. In it there are a number of beautiful and quite witty sequences in which Truffaut pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock and Ernst Lubitsch and one in which he even finds a way to bring back in front of the camera Jacques Tati’s iconic Monsieur Hulot.

The two leads are excellent together. While their characters have matured and their relationship evolved dramatically, the chemistry between Leaud and Jade is every bit as good as it is in Stolen Kisses. Jade, who made her acting debut in Stolen Kisses, is far more relaxed as well, and as a result a number of sequences during the second half where Truffaut blends comedy and drama look and feel very authentic.

Also leaving a lasting impression is Berghauer, who plays the elegant Japanese girl. She has a limited arsenal of lines to work with, but her facial expressions are outstanding. Berghauer is also incredibly convincing in creating the impression that her character’s exotic personality is completely incompatible with that of Leaud’s outsider. During their initial exchanges there are some truly awkward moments that are amongst the best in the entire film.

Truffaut shot Bed and Board with the great Spanish cinematographer Nestor Almendros (The Valley, Maitresse). It was the second film they collaborated on after The Wild Child.

***

Also included on this release is the short Antoine and Colette, which Truffaut completed three years after The 400 Blows. The short initially appeared in the sketch film Love at Twenty, which also featured segments by Andrzej Wajda, Marcel Ophuls, Renzo Rossellini, and Shintaro Ishihara. In the short, a slightly older Antoine, who has found a job in the warehouse of a large record company, accidentally meets Colette (played by the beautiful Marie-France Pisier) during a concert and falls madly in love with her.

Bed & Board Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, François Truffaut's Bed and Board arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Artificial Eye.

The screencaptures included with our review appear in the following order:

1. Screencaptures #1-19: Bed and Board.
2. Screencaptures #21-26: Antoine and Colette.

Light surface sharpening can be seen throughout the entire film. While it is not overly distracting there are side effects associated with it that affect image depth and clarity. For example, close-ups with plenty of natural light could look quite harsh (see screencapture #11). Occasionally, the sharpening can also overwhelm the natural grain and affect definition (see screencapture #14). During quick zooms, very sensitive viewers will likely notice some extremely light smearing as well. Color reproduction is good. There is a nice range of nuanced reds, blues, greens, browns, and grays. Overall image stability is outstanding. Lastly, there are no large debris, stains, cuts, damage marks, or scratches to report in this review. To sum it all up, viewers with small to medium size screens (up to 55') most likely will not be bothered by the issues mentioned above. However, viewers with large screens (60'+) and projectors will notice them.

The high-definition transfer for Antoine and Colette has been struck from a pre-existing master. There are some light scratches and specks as well as a few frame jumps, but the film has a much more pleasing organic look. More importantly, there are no traces of recent lab corrections (filtering/sharpening/color boosting).

(Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Bed & Board Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French LPCM 2.0. For the record, Artificial Eye have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

Antoine Duhamel's score is effectively used in select areas, but it does not have a prominent role in the film. Unsurprisingly, the most notable dynamic movement comes from areas where random sounds and noises are easy to identify. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable and easy to follow. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in this review. The English translation is very good.

Bed & Board Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Presentation with Serge Toubiana - Serge Toubiana, president of Cinémathèque française, introduces Bed and Board. In French, with optional English subtitles. (4 min).

• Trailer - original trailer for Bed and Board. In French, with optional English subtitles. (4 min).

• Commentary - in this audio commentary, actress Claude Jade (Christine) and scenarist Claude de Givray explain how Bed and Board came to exist, some of the key similarities and differences between Stolen Kisses and Bed and Board (for example the careful shots featuring beautiful legs), the specific decors (a few clearly reminding of Jacques Tati's work, etc. In French, with optional English subtitles.

• Antoine and Colette - presented here is Francois Truffaut's short film Antoine and Colette. In French, with optional English subtitles. When turned on, the subtitles appear inside the image frame. French LPCM 2.0. (31 min, 1080p).

• Presentation with Serge Toubiana - Serge Toubiana, president of Cinémathèque française, introduces Antoine and Colette. In French, with optional English subtitles. (2 min).

• Commentary - in this audio commentary, the late Marie-France Pisier discusses the shooting process of Antoine and Collette, the film's visual style (the use and placement of the flashbacks), her interactions with Jean-Pierre Léaud, etc. In French, with optional English subtitles.

Bed & Board Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While there is no doubt that both Bed and Board and Antoine and Colette can look better, I think that this Blu-ray release is very easy to recommend as it has two audio commentaries -- one with Claude Jade and another with Marie-France Pisier, both produced by MK2 -- that are unlikely to appear on a possible North American release of the film. This is also the case with the rest of the Francois Truffaut films which Artificial Eye have already released on Blu-ray. For example, Shoot the Pianist has an audio commentary with the legendary cinematographer Raoul Coutard, again produced by MK2, which I consider to be one of the best ever done for a home video release. RECOMMENDED.