Domicile conjugal
Having Netflix makes me lazy to the point that I tend to watch films even though I haven’t planned it. In this case, I wanted to watch the Antoine Doinel series in their chronological order, especially the last three films, in which Doinel’s relationship with his wife is depicted, should be watched in that order. However, “Domicile conjugal” draws a special attention on me. While “Baisers voles” is about getting a wife and “L’amour en fuite” about divorcing, “Domicile conjugal” is the story that shows their everyday married life. It sounds like the least interesting of all of them, but in this case, we are dealing with Truffaut, someone who knows how to make a film about ‘everyday life’. On top of that, I am secretly in love with the poster of the film, which reminds me very much of “Scenes from a Marriage” (another series I have yet to see).
How should I put it, the film was great, but perhaps I am biased as an old Antoine Doinel fan. I loved “Les 400 Coups” and liked the style of “Antoine et Colette”. In many ways, this film is a continuation of them, except Antoine’s assholeishness towards women (as one sees so often in Nouvelle Vague’s) becomes even more apparent. Antoine cannot truly love women, more like he only loves himself and the image he has of certain women. Nevertheless, it is that character that leads to all those amusing scenes in the film and the marvelous ending when the neighbor says “Maintenant ils s’aiment vraiment!” Like in Woody Allen’s “Husbands and Wives” or “Annie Hall”, movies about long-term relationships only seem to work when the characters are incapable of having a relationship. Everybody else is too boring, heh.
I think that “Domicile conjugal” lacks a little bit of depth for the topic, but provides so many great details showing me yet again why I like Nouvelle Vagues so much.