Antoine et Antoinette (1947)
Directed by Jacques Becker

Film Review

Having strayed into the artificial world of haute couture in Falbalas (1945), director Jacques Becker had his feet firmly on the ground for his next film, made straight after the end of the Second World War.  Borrowing the central plot of René Clair's 1931 musical farce Le Million, whilst paying homage to his erstwhile mentor Jean Renoir, Becker crafts a meticulously well-observed portrait of an ordinary working class couple struggling with the privations of post-war austerity.  At the time, French cinema appeared to have little interest in the problems of the working classes (there was no equivalent of the Italian neo-realist movement) and so Becker's Antoine et Antoinette is one of the very few French films to accurately portray the life of the proletariat in the bleak recessionary gloom of the late 1940s, a time of extreme hardship for many French people, as the film amply demonstrates.

The plot of Antoine et Antoinette (a piece of pure whimsy) is far less interesting than Becker's delicate handling of the main protagonists and his extraordinary attention to detail.  The cramped garret lodgings in which much of the drama takes place convey a real sense of the daily struggle to survive and lend the film a grim sense of confinement.  Little luxuries like coffee and edible food are hard to come by and Antoine has to line his shoes with scraps of newspaper because he cannot afford to buy a new pair.  So that he can listen to his radio, Antoine must risk his life by climbing up onto the roof and attaching a wire to an aerial, but a perilous rooftop ascent is nothing compared with what he risks in his day job, in those carefree days when employers were safe to inflict extreme bodily mutilation on their workers.   When the couple are dealt a stroke of unbelievable good fortune, we immediately share in their delight, as by this stage we know exactly what winning the lottery will mean to them.  Equally, we feel something of the hopeless despair that Antoine is plunged into when he loses the winning ticket and realises there is no easy escape from his present predicament.  Despite the obvious differences in tone and style, the film has something of the resonance of Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves (1948).

If there is one defining characteristic of Jacques Becker's cinema it is a deeply felt sense of involvement with the plight of his characters.  The film's imaginative use of the subjective camera and the engaging performances from the leads (Roger Pigaut and Claire Mafféi) make it easy for us to enter the inner worlds of the protagonists and see the world from their point of view, and therein lies its charm and warmth.  How easy it is to contrast the romanticism of Antoinette (the devoted wife who values love far more than material comfort) with the practical materialism of her husband.   Fearing that flashy big name actors would detract from the film's realism, Becker cast lesser known but talented actors, the most familiar face being that of Noël Roquevert, who is superb (and surprisingly sinister) as the flirtatious grocer.  Making fleeting appearances in two minor roles is Louis de Funès (he plays a grocer's boy and a scene-stealing guest at a wedding reception), many years before he rose to prominence and became French cinema's most popular comic actor.

Antoine et Antoinette proved to be a great hit at the 1947 Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Grand Prize in the esteemed category films psychologiques et d'amour (a forerunner of the Palme d'or).  The critics were, however, divided by the film and some condemned it outright for its idealistic portrayal of working class life, which did nothing to stir the consciences of the bourgeoisie.  Despite the negative reviews in the leftwing press, the film was a major box office success and attracted an audience of over 3.6 million in France, making this one of Jacques Becker's most commercially successful films.   The film, along with Becker's subsequent realist dramas - Rendez-vous de juillet (1949) and Édouard et Caroline (1951) - would have a profound impact on the directors of the French New Wave, in particular François Truffaut, whose recurring hero (and alter ego) Antoine Doinel may well owe his name to the main protagonist of Becker's 1947 film.

Film Synopsis

Antoine and Antoinette are an ordinary working class couple who live in Paris and struggle to get by in the austere aftermath of World War II.  He is employed at a printing works; she is a modest sales assistant in a busy department store.  Home for them is a tiny garret apartment and they can only just survive on what they earn.  Both dream of owning their own home and a motorcycle, but there is little prospect that this dream will ever come true.  Then, one day, Antoinette buys a winning lottery ticket and it suddenly seems as if the couple's fortunes have suddenly taken a turn for the better.  No longer will they have to endure a life of hardship and hunger.  No longer will Antoinette have to put up with the unwelcome attentions of the grocer Monsieur Roland.  They can now embark together on a new life and live as they had always dreamed, free and happy. But when Antoine goes to collect his winnings disaster strikes. The wallet containing the priceless lottery ticket goes missing.  His dreams in ruins, Antoine can scarcely bring himself to break this terrible news to his wife...