Jules et Jim (1962)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

François Truffaut

Writers:

Henri-Pierre Roché (novel)
François Truffaut (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

23 January 1962 (France)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Decades of a love triangle concerning two friends and an impulsive woman.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Friendship | Love Triangle | WWI | Promiscuity

Awards:

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 3 wins

Cast

Jeanne Moreau	...	Catherine
Oskar Werner	...	Jules (as Oscar Werner)
Henri Serre	...	Jim
Vanna Urbino	...	Gilberte
Boris Bassiak	...	Albert (as Bassiak)
Anny Nelsen	...	Lucie
Sabine Haudepin	...	Sabine, la petite
Marie Dubois	...	Thérèse
Michel Subor	...	Récitant / Narrator (voice)

Also Known As:

Jules and Jim (UK) (USA)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | German | English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | Portugal:M/12 (re-rating) (1975) | Portugal:M/16 (DVD re-rating) | South Korea:15 | Singapore:PG | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Hong Kong:IIA | Portugal:17 (original rating) | Sweden:15 | Sweden:7 (re-release: 2003) | UK:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Alpes-Maritimes, France

Company:

Les Films du Carrosse

Trivia:

When Jim first visits Jules' home in Austria, Catherine shows him a picture of Jules costumed as Mozart. Oskar Werner, the actor who plays Jules, also portrayed Mozart in an earlier film.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Jules, Jim, and Albert are sitting on the grass sharing stories about the war, the order of the three characters repeatedly changes between shots. Note that this is actually a goof on the Criterion Region 1 disc, and the Tartan Region 2 DVD, in which the film is reversed left/right. It does not occur in other DVD releases of this film, including the Fox/Lorber Region 1 release.

Quotes:

Jim: What is it?
Catherine: Sulfuric acid, for the eyes of men who tell lies.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Husbands (1970)

Soundtrack:

Le Tourbillon

art isn't about "identification"

Why do so many people need to "get into the characters" "care about the characters" "identify with the characters", to enjoy or appreciate a great film? I think it's a type of selfishness, as shallow as the urge to reject an outcome one doesn't like. Examples: "I know it's good; but the ending was too down" (Lolita), or a woman I once heard criticize Unbearable Lightness of Being because one of the main characters is a womanizer who doesn't repent or have justice rendered to him. Ironically, in Jules and Jim, we see a woman who is a "manizer" whom some viewers are appalled or put off by).

Jules and Jim features three characters whose unrealism is beyond question - Truffaut himself might comment on how Catherine fascinated the other two, but I doubt very much he would claim any of the three to be "realistic". I think the whole thing is a fable, and therefore the three are more like archetypes. The beauty isn't really the story, but HOW the story unfolds, and, most importantly how it is told VISUALLY: the breeziness interrupted by dramatic outbursts (flames, jumping into the river, death by drowning), the exploration of love as a fleeing of tediousness and predictability, the hinting (yes there is a type of love between Jules and Jim, though not a homo erotic one) that friendship is always deeper than romantic love, the beautiful flowing and editing of sequences, for example: where all three go bicycling in the country.

The duty of film is to tell a story in moving images, to take advantage of the things that specifically make cinema different from drama or literature - moving the spectator about in space and time, which cannot be done in any other art form in quite the same way. But nothing about this movie is conventional, and people looking for "resolution", or a someone getting their comeuppances, or even a character learning more about himself must look elsewhere for gratification.