Antoine et Antoinette

press release: France | 1947 | DCP | 98 min. | French with English subtitles

Director: Jacques Becker; Cast: Roger Pigaut, Claire Mafféi, Noël Roquevert

With a brisk pace and an abundance of charm, Becker has crafted a splendid comic melodrama. Young, passionate working-class marrieds Antoine and Antoinette live in a cramped Parisian apartment. Though happy, they believe their lives and social standing would be much improved...if only they could find that mislaid lottery ticket! Through a clever and subtle accumulation of social details and multiple, finely sketched characters, the decidedly humanist Becker creates a fully realized inter-connected universe within one block of the 18th arrondissement.

Jacques Becker: A Master Before the Wave

An enormously versatile director, Jacques Becker (1906–1960) distinguished himself in the French film industry with a series of box office successes that saw him oscillating between period melodramas, working-class romances, nail-biting studies in suspense, and even an absorbing biopic of a great artist. Becker, in a career that was cut short by his untimely death at age 53, counted Francois Truffaut, Jean Renoir and Jean-Pierre Melville among his admirers. This series provides a healthy sampling of Becker’s strong body of work, including all three features (Antoine et Antoinette, Rendezvous in July, Edouard et Caroline) that comprise his “Youth Trilogy.” Special Thanks to Rialto Pictures and Amélie Garin-Davet and Laurence Geannopulos of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy.

All Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public.