Domicile conjugal (1970)'s comments

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Siskoid

Part 4 of the Antoine Doinel cycle, Domicile conjugal (Bed and Board) catches up to Antoine only a couple years after Stolen Kisses, and is even MORE of a comedy, filled with entertaining zanies. It's happened, Antoine has settled down. Not saying there won't be setbacks (the key image of a flower that won't change its tint in a dyed flower pot hints at it), but he commits to Claude Jade's character, starts a family, even gets a steady job (albeit a completely absurd one). Despite the cozy happiness - and Antoine and Christine really do click in the best sense of the term - he is still haunted by the older woman from Kisses, which makes the casting of Hiroko Matsumoto as his would-be mistress particularly brilliant, as she vaguely resembles Delphine Seyrig (something in the mouth area). The haunting also manifests in more outrageous ways, as one of several call-backs to Stolen Kisses has her dialog come out of another character's mouth. There are several filmic flghts of fancy in this, including some stop-motion. Truffaut's alter ego is moving more and more into the realm of the fictional as he distances himself from his real-world self. One thing I can't decide is if Claude Jade is made up to look like Catherine Deneuve as a direct reference, or if it was just the style, but it's so striking, it really feels like it was done on purpose (Truffaut had worked with Deneuve just the year before in Mississippi Mermaid). Who knows.

3 years 9 months ago