Bed and Board (Domicile conjugal) (1970)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy Drama	Menu Audio Filmographies-Crew-François Truffaut Theatrical Trailer-Domicile conjugal
Rating
Year Of Production	1970
Running Time	93:29
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	François Truffaut
Studio Distributor	Valoria Films Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	Jean-Pierre Léaud Claude Jade Hiroko Berghauer Barbara Laage Danièle Girard Daniel Ceccaldi Claire Duhamel Daniel Boulanger Silvana Blasi Pierre Maguelon Jacques Jouanneau Claude Véga Jacques Rispal
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$28.95	Music	Antoine Duhamel

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	French Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (256Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.66:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

Domicile conjugal is the fourth film in Truffaut’s Doinel saga. The film focuses on the marriage of Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) and Christine (Claude Jade) and the birth of their child Alphonse Doinel (Emilie Barbault).

In the film’s opening scenes we see Antoine and Christine happily married. Antoine works below their apartment for a nearby florist and his job requires him to magically change the colour of white flowers with dyes – Antoine desires to create an absolute red flower. Upstairs in the apartment Christine gives violin lessons to children. The couple are surrounded by eccentric yet helpful neighbours such as the opera singer (Daniel Boulanger) who constantly waits for his wife (Silvana Blasi), Césarin (Jacques Jouanneau) who runs a bar and Ginette (Danièle Girard) who is hopelessly infatuated with Antoine.

Soon enough Christine falls pregnant and Antoine’s insecurities begin to surface. Despite Christine and Antoine appearing like a blissfully married couple, they still seem to be adolescents playing grown-ups – all the domestic scenes are depicted as childish games. But with the birth of their first child, Christine instantly matures; she’s a mother now, not just a girl in love with Antoine. However Antoine gives into to his selfish urges, even naming his new born child with the name Christine was opposed too.

Furthermore having found a new job working with an American hydraulics company completely by chance (or rather miscommunication), Antoine meets a beautiful Japanese woman named Kyoko (Hiroko Berghauer billed as Mademoiselle Hiroko), and the two begin an affair. Antoine later describes Kyoko as not just another woman, but another world. The affair between Antoine and Kyoko is revealed to Christine in dramatic fashion and while Antoine doesn’t think he has done anything particularly wrong, Christine is left with a broken heart and their marriage is put to the test.

“You are my sister, my daughter, my mother.” Antoine Doinel

“I’d hoped to be your wife.” Christine Darbon Doinel

Domicile conjugal is a bittersweet film. The final scenes are not easy to watch, simply because we know both Antoine and Christine wanted so much more; Baisers volés showed Antoine and Christine declaring their love for one another and committing to a relationship but Domicile conjugal shows true love often means sacrifice.

The performances from both Léaud and Jade are heartfelt and charming. As with the other films of the series, there are too many memorable scenes and characters to recall; Jacques Robiolles even makes a series of humorous cameos – and look out for the tribute to Monsieur Hulot. Claude Véga’s role is also a highlight.

Domicile conjugal is a wonderful chapter in the Doinel saga – the film demonstrates Truffaut's magical ability to weave warmth, charm and brutal honesty into his films.

Highly Recommend.

Video

The Region 4 Umbrella release has the same transfer as the Region 2 (France) Mk2 release of Domicile conjugal.

The transfer unfortunately features edge enhancement, mild telecine wobble, noise reduction and assorted film artefacts.

Domicile conjugal is presented in the 16x9 enhanced slightly cropped aspect ratio of 1.64:1.

The film has been encoded over a single layer disc at the average bitrate of 6.95 mb/s. There are 26 chapter selections.

There are no direct issues of MPEG compression artefacts; however edge enhancement and noise reduction are evident in most scenes (for example the buildings in the distance 86:14).

The colour palette is vibrant but the skin tones are slightly saturated.

Sharpness and black levels are average due to the softness of the transfer (for example 8:15).

The assorted positive and negative film artefacts and film grain were expected due to the age of the film print, but they do not distract from viewing of the film.

The optional English subtitles are not literally accurate and while there were some grammar errors, overall the subtitles do give a good generalisation of the French dialogue. The subtitles appear in a thin yellow text and automatically appear when the film is selected.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

Like the picture quality the French Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono soundtrack is standard.

There was evident hiss in some scenes but this is possibly due to how the dialogue was recorded.

Overall the dialogue remains clear and audible.

The sound design features the sounds of thunderstorms to emphasis the onscreen drama. The soundtrack has limited use on the surround sound.

Antoine Duhamel’s soundtrack is atmospheric and expressive and works well with the comedy and drama of the film.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu Audio

The main menu is a static image of the cover-art with the following options; play feature, 26 scene selections and access to extras. There is no set-up menu but the subtitles can be turned off if desired. The menu is accompanied with a section of the score.

Filmographies-Crew

An extensive Truffaut filmography listing the works of the director from 1957 to 1983 in backwards chronological order.

Original Theatrical Trailer (3:08)

16x9 enhanced with permanent English subtitles.

The Criterion Collection has the best release of Domicile conjugal

The title is available exclusively in The Adventures of Antoine Doinel 5-Disc Boxset.

The Criterion Edition of Domicile conjugal features the following specifications and special features:

• New digital transfer of Domicile conjugal, in the original theatrical aspect ratio.
• New and improved English subtitle translation.
• Rare behind-the-scenes footage from the Domicile conjugal set.
• Rare television interview with Jean-Pierre Léaud.
• Rare footage of Truffaut and co-writer Bernard Revon.
• Interview footage of Truffaut discussing the character of Antoine Doinel

Domicile conjugal is a wonderful chapter in the Doinel saga – the film demonstrates Truffaut's magical ability to weave warmth, charm and brutal honesty into his films.

Fans of the series should probably invest in the Criterion Collection boxset.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall