Review of Bed & Board

Seven stars. This is Truffaut and Leaud's fourth Doinel film. I've seen the first two, but haven't come across the third (Stolen Kisses). The 400 Blows is one of the essential films of cinema history. This is a pleasing follow-on. It's a pretty astonishing feat to craft a series of stories about one character, using one actor, as he grows from truant tweener to the edge of adulthood (yes, I know there was eventually a fifth film). The deftness of the direction and performance are impressive. And the density of both the humor and the drama are as well. Neither Antoine nor Christine handle the events of the story in a very mature way. But, of course, that's the point. And that they end up coming to something of a mature resolution to the problem is the coda to the story of all four films. I should stress that you can watch any of the three Doinel films I've seen as a standalone. The references to the earlier films are there, but it's not like dropping into a random episode of Game of Thrones.

Truffaut was one of the great film-makers of family stories. He didn't go much for flash, but he was very honest, and had a great eye. That's why his films are still very much worth watching. 6 July 2022.