Jules and Jim

Sometimes it takes multiple viewings, and perhaps life experience, to fully appreciate a film. I first saw Jules and Jim in college, and then again about ten years ago, but I just didn't get the acclaim. This time, for whatever reason, I found it to be a beautiful and poignant examination of love and friendship.

Francois Truffaut's third film, from 1962, Jules and Jim takes place over twenty years, starting in 1912. Jim (Henri Serra) is a Parisian, Jules (Oskar Werner) is an Austrian, and they meet and become friends. Jim has lots of girlfriends, but Jules can't seem to find one. They visit an Adriatic island to see statues that they see in a slide show a friend shows them. They are struck particularly by a large bust of a woman. Later, that friend will introduce them to Catherine (Jeanne Moreau), who looks just like the statue.

Jules will fall for her, and tells Jim, with something of a wink, to leave her alone. Indeed, the two marry and have a child. The Great War interrupts their friendship, as the two friends fight on opposite sides. After the war, Jim visits the couple in Austria, where he finds the marriage coming apart. He and Catherine fall in love, and Jules accepts this, and three live together. Eventually Jim and Catherine come apart, and Catherine makes a desperate decision.

This film became kind of famous for being an example of a menage a trois, although technically it isn't, and the film is not all that salacious. Instead it displays how three people love each in a triangle, but not always at the same time. The strongest relationship is that between Jules and Jim, though there is nothing homoerotic about it. Their shared love of Catherine is just something else they have in common.

Truffaut's New Wave style is evident here. The opening montage, narrated, is a dizzying montage (the photography, as ever, is by Raoul Coutard) and the subtitles can hardly keep up. Indeed, the voiceover is omnipresent, and reminds me somewhat of the narration in Woody Allen's Vicki Cristina Barcelona, but unlike that film, here it never feels tacked on or unnecessary.

There is also an element of humor. The music, by Georges Delerue, would indicate that Jules and Jim is a farce, though it has a tragic ending. Truffaut explains in an interview that he did not want to make scenes too melodramatic, as this would have been a disservice to Henri Roche, who wrote the original novel. Because the writer told his story from a distance of time, the pain was lessened, and the humor was enhanced, and that is how Truffaut framed the narrative.

Moreau, with her wide mouth and penetrating eyes, was a major star of French cinema, and this is probably her greatest role. She is a difficult character, but really is ahead of her time, and she doesn't believe in a double standard. When Jim returns to Paris to say "goodbye" to some old loves, she decides to do the same. Jules later tells Jim that she believes a relationship should have monogamy of one partner, but not from her. While watching, she may be infuriating, but it's easy to see why these two devote their lives to her.