Jules and Jim (film)
"Jules and Jim" is a renowned 1962 film directed by François Truffaut, widely celebrated as a quintessential work of the French New Wave cinematic movement. The film, adapted from Henri-Pierre Roche's novel, spans twenty-five years and follows the intertwined lives of two friends, Jules and Jim, who meet in Paris before World War I. Both are infatuated with Catherine, portrayed by Jeanne Moreau, a captivating woman who embodies both freedom and complexity. As their relationships evolve against the backdrop of historical events, themes of love, loss, and the passage of time emerge poignantly, particularly as the characters navigate the challenges of adulthood and unfulfilled desires.
Truffaut's innovative filmmaking techniques, including sweeping camera movements and the use of freeze frames, enhance the emotional depth of the story, while the lush musical score by Georges Delerue adds to its richness. The film is recognized not only for its narrative and character development but also for its reflection on femininity, as Catherine's dual nature captivates both men. "Jules and Jim" has received critical acclaim, ranking among the greatest films of all time and providing a profound exploration of human relationships.
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Jules and Jim (film)
- Release Date: 1962
- Director(s): Francois Truffaut
- Writer(s): Jean Gruault; Francois Truffaut
- Principal Actors and Roles: Jeanne Moreau (Catherine); Henri Serre (Jim); Oskar Werner (Jules); Vanna Urbino (Gilberte)
- Book / Story Film Based On: Jules et Jim by Henri-Pierre Roché
Jules and Jim (Jules et Jim) is a celebrated 1962 film directed by Francois Truffaut. It is considered an outstanding example of the French New Wave, a cinematic movement that began in the late 1950s and continued into the 1960s. Along with Truffaut, the movement included works by such notable directors as Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, Claude Chabrol and Eric Rohmer. It was Truffaut’s third film as director after The 400 Blows (1959) and Shoot the Piano Player (1960). Since its release it has been widely admired for its director’s highly innovative techniques and the three indelible main characters, especially Jeanne Moreau’s Catherine.
Plot
The film is based on a novel by Henri-Pierre Roche. The narrative takes place over twenty-five years in various European countries before, during and after World War I.
Jules, played by Oskar Werner, and Jim, played by Henri Serre, become inseparable when they meet in Paris in 1912, although the former is Austrian and the latter is French. Both of them aspire to be writers and enjoy a carefree, ebullient lifestyle.
They are both equally smitten when they meet Catherine, who with her transcendent but inscrutable beauty reminds them of a figure in a statue that they have seen together. For her part, Catherine is equally captivated by the two men. At the same time, she recognizes the permanent nature of their bond and relishes her own freedom. A classic free spirit who refuses to be subordinate to men, she demonstrates her independence when she jumps into the Seine to illustrate her identification with a character in a play by August Strindberg.
Prior to the beginning of World War I, Jules and Catherine relocate to Austria where they get married. During the war Jules and Jim fight on opposing sides. Both of them worry that they might have to face each other in battle.
After the war Jim visits his two friends at the cottage that they share with their daughter, Sabine. Jules informs Jim that the marriage is unhappy. Catherine is dissatisfied and has had many affairs. Jim and Catherine still have feelings for each other and Jules tells Jim that he would approve if Catherine were to marry Jim, so concerned is he for her happiness.
As a compromise, the three friends live together and are happy for a time. Jim and Catherine would like to have a child together but are unable to do so. Jim leaves Austria and returns to France. He and Catherine write to one another and he learns from her that she is pregnant. Both of them are hoping to rekindle their relationship but their hopes are dashed after she has a miscarriage.
Jules and Catherine eventually return to France where they reencounter Jim. Catherine is still hoping that she and Jim can get married but he tells her that he planning to marry Gilberte, his sporadic girlfriend of many years, instead.
Catherine tricks Jim into getting into her car with her and then drives off a bridge, leaving Jules devastated at the loss of his two friends and ending the decades-long love triangle.
Significance
Jules and Jim is ranked forty-sixth on Empire magazine’s list of the 100 best films of all time. Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film four stars. Capturing the special quality of the film, he wrote, "‘Jules and Jim’ is one of those rare films that know how fast audiences can think, and how emotions contain their own explanations."
Indeed, throughout the film Truffaut creates rich and memorable moments by not telegraphing their meaning to the audience, which would have been unnecessary given how fully realized his characters are. While Oskar Werner and Henri Serre completely inhabit the two title characters, it is Jeanne Moreau’s Catherine that has garnered the most attention. Truffaut had first encountered the actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 1957. As the French critic Ginette Vincendeau has noted, Catherine represents "two completely opposed ideas of femininity" in that she is sexy and intellectual at the same time.
Other critics have noted the main tragedy of the film, which is that the three central characters cannot reproduce the exuberance they knew in their youth as they move into middle age. Truffaut was only twenty-nine when he directed the film but he displays an uncanny understanding of how the passing of time, including historical events, can influence attitudes and relationships. In this regard he benefited from his relationship with Henri-Pierre Roche, the author on whose novel the film is based. Roche was seventy-four when the novel was published in 1953, and after Truffaut discovered the novel while browsing in a Parisian bookstore and contacted Roche, the two men became friends.
As noted on the website New Wave Film, Truffaut’s directorial techniques he uses in the film always complement the action whether he is evoking the characters’ youthful vivacity in the first half of the film or their more tranquil middle-aged years in the second. In the first half he often employs sweeping camera movements. He also draws heavily on the lush musical score by Georges Delerue, which was named one of the ten greatest soundtracks of all time by Time magazine.
In the second half Truffaut uses jump cuts as well as freeze frames. The freeze frames serve as an ironic counterpoint to the passage of time that so afflicts his central characters.
The idea of a love triangle has long fascinated both storytellers and audiences alike and it is difficult to find a more definitive example than Jules and Jim. With his deep understanding of human behavior and original cinematic language, Truffaut created a film that is a landmark in the history of world cinema.
Bibliography
Allen, Don. Finally Truffaut. New York: Beaufort, 1985. Print.
De Baecque, Antoine, and Serge Toubiana. Truffaut: A Biography. Oakland: U of California P, 2000. Print.
Ingram, Robert, and Paul Duncan. Francois Truffaut: The Complete Films. Cologne: Taschen, 2013. Print.
"Jules et Jim." NewWaveFilm.com. S. Hitchman, 2015. Web. 27 Aug. 2015. <http://www.newwavefilm.com/french-new-wave-encyclopedia/jules-and-jim.shtml>.
Le Berre, Carole. Francois Truffaut at Work. London: Phaidon, 2005. Print.
Neupert, Richard. A History of the French New Wave Cinema. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 2007. Print.
Truffaut, Francois. Truffaut by Truffaut. New York: Abrams, 1987. Print.
Truffaut, François, and Jean Gruault. Jules and Jim: A Film. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1968. Print.