Directed by François Truffaut • 1970 • France
The fourth installment in François Truffaut's chronicle of the ardent, anachronistic Antoine Doinel, Bed and Board plunges his hapless creation once again into crisis. Expecting his first child and still struggling to find steady employment, Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) involves himself in a relationship with a beautiful Japanese woman that threatens to destroy his marriage. Lightly comic, with a touch of the burlesque, Bed and Board is a bittersweet look at the travails of young married life and the fine line between adolescence and adulthood.
This 1970 interview, from “Cinéastes de notre temps: François Truffaut, dix ans dix films,” provides a rare peek into the creative process by which François Truffaut and his cowriter Bernard Revon developed ideas.
The following is an excerpt from the “Le Dernier film de Truffaut” episode of the French television show “Midi Magazine” (March 23, 1970). It includes rarely seen footage of François Truffaut shooting a scene on the BED AND BOARD set, and an interview with Truffaut and actor Claude Jade.
In this excerpt from the June 10, 1973, episode of the television show “Le dernier des cinq,” Jean-Pierre Léaud discusses landing the role of Antoine Doinel, his relationships with François Truffaut and the character, and his feelings about “ending” the series.
