CriticSociety- film reviews

Review

Jules and Jim

Director

François Truffaut

Year

1962

Rating

Reviewed by

Gon C Curiel a.k.a. Groucho

Review date

Thursday, March 24, 2005

German Jules (Oskar Werner) and French Jim (Henri Serre) meet in Paris and become inseparable. Their antics are fairly innocent when they’re young; a pair of bohemians, they’re enamored of the goodness of life and in constant search of romance. When they meet wild Catherine (Jeanne Moreau), they become instantly enchanted, but Jim, the ladies man, restrains himself for the sake of Jules, who starts a relationship with her. Decades pass, war gets in the way, but hearts and foundations don’t change. This is the story of three people in love.

I was enthralled by this Truffaut masterpiece from the first minute. It is, if anything, highly entertaining on account of its storytelling style, with an incredibly quick pace and an appropriate—often hilarious, often dramatic—narration by Michel Subor. The tone of this memorable representative of the French “New Wave” is mostly bittersweet, but overall it’s a fun ride. That an ultimate tragedy can be told in such a way is a triumph per se, but there is much more to this film that makes it the classic that it is.

As usual, Truffaut experiments with his cinematic artifices to achieve illusions and perceptions that are easily transmitted to the viewer. Early on, the way the camera follows Thérèse (Marie Dubois), “the locomotive girl”, is already an eye-popping device. Several minutes later, during a take of Catherine, the image suddenly pauses for a split-second, then continues, and then again and again a few times, resulting in a beautiful, poetic way of capturing such an exquisite succession of moments. It’s magic. Of course, that such ideas work is also due to the intense job of editor Claudine Bouché, and the clear understanding of every magical moment by genius composer Georges Delerue. He’s no doubt one of my favorite musicians ever to work on film.

Though the piece, scripted by Truffaut and Jean Gruault from Henri-Pierre Roché’s novel, is named after the two guys whose friendship is the main subject of the film, the real star is Catherine, and I just can’t imagine anyone better than Moreau to play her. Catherine is impulsive, insatiable, unsatisfied, anxious, lonely, hysterical, and sad. There are so many moments of enormous sentiment for her, and Jeanne Moreau does every one of them with such ease and credibility, that her performance has to be one of the most memorable by any actor in any movie from any country in history. She transcends the screen and becomes attached to our hearts and minds for good, from the moment where she jumps into the water to the moment where she sings to the moment where she feels regret. She’s fantastic. Werner and Serre are absolutely perfect too as the contrasting fellows who share an undeniable clashing feeling.

Lovely, amusing, and sad… Jules et Jim has a rare beauty, for anyone to appreciate. A must!

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