Francois Truffaut's 1962 French New Wave classic JULES ET JIM tells the story of two pals and the woman they both fall in love with. In 1912, Jules (Oskar Werner), an Austrian living in France, strikes up a deep friendship with Parisian writer Jim (Henri Serre). The two are the best of buddies, downright inseparable. After they have each experienced a series of attempts and fiascoes with the local ladies, Jules meets Catherine (Jeanne Moreau), a vivacious and free-spirited woman, and they move back to Austria together and marry. The outbreak of World War I separates the two friends and years pass, but after the Armistice, Jim visits Jules and Catherine and finds their marriage rocky. Catherine decides to leave Jules, and she turns her affection to Jim, but this doesn't shake the two men's firm friendship.
The bond between the two men, and the vivacity and ethereal nature of Catherine, make for a film initially so positive and heartwarming that it is easy to see why JULES ET JIM has won a very wide audience beyond many other French films of the mid-20th-century. The script lets Moreau, already one of the most legendary actresses of her age, show off all kinds of tricks she had long honed in the theatre.
But the story increasingly takes on tragic tones, for Catherine is a deeply conflicted person, desirous of the two men by turns but ultimately unable to find happiness. In a modern Hollywood film a character like Catherine would probably be written as the "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" archetype, existing purely to show the male interests how to love life and live it to the fullest, but lacking any life of her own. In Truffaut's film, however, the depths of Catherine's psyche is what ultimately draws the plot. Yet because the film is still roughly told from the point of view of the two male characters, the film does convincingly depict the sort of relationship where you love someone and must support them through their struggles, but that person still remains ultimately unknowable.
In spite of being a film of wide appeal due to its likable characters and charm, JULES ET JIM is still an exemplar of the French New Wave. It shows some relatively innovative features such as jump takes, freeze frames, and carousel-like camera work, all shot by legendary cinematographer Raoul Coutard who was also responsible for Jean-Luc Godard's films of this era. Truffaut and his peers in the French New Wave were mad about the history of film, and here we get a sort of encyclopedia of film: allusions to the silent era, use of newsreels and other archival footage, and a voice-over narrator that comes in and out.
I enjoyed watching JULES ET JIM and there were some moments that I am sure I will long remember – Marie Dubois's brief supporting role as one of Jules' early love interests is laugh-out-loud funny. Yet I must admit that I was disappointed by the pacing in the last third of the film, which feels clumsy. The film also gradually abandons its New Wave freshness as the tragic part of the story takes over, and one already sees Truffaut drifting back towards conventional filmmaking. So, I personally would not include it among my top films. Still, its classic status is easy to understand and it's worth a look for any curious viewer.
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