Dir. Jacques Becker, 1947. 84 min. B&W. DCP.
With Roger Pigaut, Claire Mafféi, Noël Roquevert
In French with English subtitles
In Becker’s zippiest, most stylish romantic comedy, the loss of a winning lottery ticket sends salesgirl Antoinette and her factory worker husband Antoine on a hunt through the streets of Paris, producing a vivid, lighthearted picture of working class life in the years following World War II.
Full of the sights and sounds of a gentrifying city long where luxury boutiques and throngs of tourists replace its industrial past, Antoine and Antoinette is more than a time capsule, it is an entire world brought to life by one of France’s great humanist directors.