Jules and Jim may very well be François Truffaut’s most accomplished film. It is an insightful examination of social responsibility vs. unrestricted free choice as well as an interesting allegory for pre- and post-World War I Europe.

Historical Background: François Truffaut was one of the original New Wave directors. Like several of the others, he began is career as a film critic and took up filmmaking because of his rejection of the cinematic philosophy of the preceding generation of directors. His first feature, The 400 Blows (1959), was one of the group of films that launched the New Wave. He followed that with Shoot the Piano Player (1960) and Jules and Jim in 1962. Like Godard’s A Bout de Souffle, Jules and Jim was influential both in its technical approach and by infusing film with a raw energy that was not typical at that time. The story for Jules and Jim was adapted from a little known novel by Henri-Pierrre Roche (1879-1959) that Truffaut picked up out of the discount bin at a corner bookstore. Roche, in turn, had adapted the story from his own experiences as a young man. Ironically, the woman who had been the real-life equivalent of Catherine showed up incognito but very much alive at the premiere of the film.

The Story: Two young men, Jules (Oskar Werner) and Jim (Henri Serre), meet in Paris in 1912. Both are writers, both are sensitive, and the two soon become fast friends, despite the fact that Jules is an Austrian and Jim a Frenchman. They teach each other their respective languages and share everything: time together, women, views, and experiences. Jules is somewhat reserved, feeling a bit apart from the Parisian atmosphere. Jim has more social ease. Jules searches for Miss Right, but finds his dates either too talkative or not talkative enough. He tries a prostitute, as well, but finds that unsatisfying. Jules and Jim visit a mutual friend, Albert (Boris Bassiak), and enjoy a slide slow of Albert’s work – restoring old Greek statues. One slide, in particular, captures their attention. It shows the sculpture of a woman with a lovely face and an enigmatic smile. Jim and Jules determine then and there to visit the original, in the Adriatic. They also vow that should they ever find a woman with that face, they'll snatch her up.

As luck would have it, they encounter just such a women, almost like the appearance of an apparition, in the form of Catherine (Jeanne Moreau). The flirtatious Catherine delights in the attentions of both men, but Jules stakes his claim early, asking Jim to make an exception, in this case, and not share Catherine in bed. Although Jim is also crazy about Catherine, he agrees out of friendship for Jules. The three of them become an inseparable trio, going everywhere together, in a whirlwind of carefree youthfulness. They rent a cottage near a beach together. They attend plays in Paris together. One night, after a Strindberg play, the two men are debating the merits of the play, though neither particularly liked it. Catherine, who empathized with the independence of the heroine and needing to be the center of attention of her two men, impulsively jumps from the stone wall at the side of the walkway, into the Seine below (an act which, if not insane in its motivation, certainly left Catherine in-Seine). In is precisely this fun and wild side of Catherine that both men adore, in addition to her physical attractiveness. Jim, in particular, is so struck at this moment by Catherine’s free-spirited nature that he suddenly realizes that he too is in love with her.

Nevertheless, Jules proposes and wins her by his fresh innocence. The are married in Austria and then the beginning of World War I separates the newlyweds from Jim. During the War, Jim and Jules serve in their respective (and opposing) armies, living in mutual fear that they might shoot one another. After the armistice, Jim gets an assignment in Austria writing articles for a newspaper on the devastation in that country. He visits his old friends and discovers that they have a five year-old daughter, Sabine (Sabine Haudepin), but that their marriage is also in shambles. Jules confides in Jim that Catherine has engaged in countless infidelities, even running off for weeks at a time with various lovers, including their old friend Albert. Jules is unusually accepting of these dalliances because he understands Catherine’s irrepressible nature. He wants her to be happy and realizes that monogamy will not provide that for her. Catherine is clearly bottled-up and miserable trying to play the good housewife. Jules makes the remarkable suggestion that he divorce Catherine and that Jim marry her. He recognizes that they are still mutually attracted to one another and he would rather at least keep Catherine in his circle than lose her entirely. Catherine and Jim both agree and are soon living together in the same house as Jules. Briefly, they seem almost to recapture the free-wheeling lifestyle that they cherished in the old days in Paris.

Catherine, however, continues her extracurricular affairs as well. Jim is not so tolerant of this as was Jules, and he soon returns to Paris and his mistress, there, Gilberte (Vanna Urbino). Catherine, who relishes her own opportunity to freely choose whomsoever she wishes to be with, has no tolerance whatsoever for competition. What’s good for the goose is not, in her view, acceptable behavior for the gander. Catherine’s strategy for regaining the center of attention when it seems to be slipping away has always been to do something dramatic and this latest circumstance is no exception, bringing the film to a tragic climax.

Themes: What then is this film all about? This is my favorite Truffaut film precisely because it is evident that some profound psychological and relational issues have been explored, but clearly defining those issues is challenging. The first point, I think, is that this film, despite its title, is far more about Catherine than about either Jules or Jim or their friendship. Catherine epitomizes self-indulgent hedonism that was the hallmark of the bohemian culture and values that were inculcating Europe, and especially Paris, prior to World War I. Catherine delights in her freedom and independence and rejects any fetters of responsibility for the feelings or well-being of others. It makes little difference that Catherine is a woman, in this context, except that libertine self-indulgence by men is much older and more routine subject matter. Catherine, however, will inevitably confront the truism captured so well in a song by Janis Joplin: “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” Freedom, that is, carried to a licentious extreme. After marriage and procreation, Catherine’s obsessive need for impulsive free choice is revealed as idolatry, self-indulgence, and self-deceit. Catherine has become enslaved to her own need for complete freedom from responsibility. We observe Catherine’s neglected child, whose mother periodically disappears from her life for weeks at a time, and contrast that with Catherine’s plea for another child with Jim (presuming that it will be equally neglected). Catherine has long since passed the point of victimless promiscuity. Catherine represents a force of nature – the relentless will to be unrestricted, to be responsible for nothing other than one’s own immediate impulses and pleasures.

Catherine is also one of those people who simply must be the center of attention. Jules and Jim set out to find a woman who resembled a sculpture that they admired. Having found her, they placed her on a pedestal and admired her shamelessly, as though she were a work of art. Catherine fit perfectly into that scheme of things because she lacks any identity as a person separate from her role as an object of admiration. Her sense of self was defined entirely by the admiration of men. Catherine needed a constant stream of admiration and used two main tactics to ensure it. One was to renew her admirers continuously by a steady turnover of affairs and the other was to shock her old admirers out of complacency if their attentions to her began to wander. We see the latter tactic both in her leap into the Seine and in the tragic ending of the film. Do you remember when you were a kid and you scared your mother by hanging over the edge of a wall or the side of a boat, crying, “Look at me, Mom?” That’s Catherine in a nutshell: “Watch us, Jim,” says she.

Jules and Jim can also be interpreted as allegorical for the Europe of the time. Pre-War bourgeois European society had become centered on luxuries (such as the early automobiles) and entertainment. Europe after World War I was fractured, distrustful, jealous, and vengeful. The freedom of choice, neutrality, and impartiality represented by Catherine were becoming less and less viable politically. One had to take sides.

Finally, Truffaut also skillfully makes this film about the nature of memory. Instead of the usual narrative tactic in telling this story, Truffaut skips and leaps over chunks of the characters’ lives to focus only on what is most important to the story. This is how memory operates, registering what is most important as vivid memories while letting much of the rest slip into oblivion.

Production Values: Truffaut pulls out the entire arsenal of his directorial techniques for Jules and Jim. There are jump cuts and freeze frames, for example, the latter giving the impression of snapshots from someone’s scrapbook. There is the omnipresent narrator, filling us in on details we could not otherwise know and reminding us that the story’s ending is already known – if not by us, by those involved. Truffaut does not let the film be taken over by gadgetry, however, keeping the characters foremost at all times. These are three interesting central characters and our reactions to them change over the course of the film as they change as people. Jules and Jim provides a nice period ambiance as well as the always appealing Parisian atmosphere.

Jeanne Moreau provides a truly great performance to anchor Jules and Jim. She went on to have a long career, but this was her first heart-stopping role. She had previously appeared in The Lovers (1959), A Woman is a Woman (1960), and La Notte (1961) and afterwards appeared in Diary of a Chambermaid (1964), Chimes at Midnight (1966), La Femme Nikita (1990), Until the End of the World (1991), and Ever After (1998). Oskar Werner does a nice job as Jules. His other credits include Decision Before Dawn (1951), Lola Montès (1955), Ship of Fools (1965), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), and Fahrenheit 451 (1966). Henri Serre held his own as Jim, though he did not go on to much of a career thereafter.

Bottom-Line: I don’t count myself among Truffaut’s most loyal fans. Jules and Jim, however, is easily my favorite among the Truffaut films I’ve seen thus far. If you want to check out Truffaut, this is the film I would recommend as a first experience. Jules and Jim explores an interesting example of a love-triangle where the two competitors for Catherine, Jules and Jim, are also best friends. This film is not, however, about ménage a trios, despite what several reviewers claim. It’s three way romance, not three way sex. There is also no evidence that either Jules and Jim is gay and plenty of evidence to the contrary, despite what one reviewer blithely asserts.

I saw this film in an old VHS print but, from what I’ve read, the newer DVD is not materially better. Although it claims to be a restoration, one reviewer complains that it exhibits the same pops and crackles as his old VHS. The extras on the DVD include theatrical trailers for a number of Truffaut films as well as an uninspired commentary track. Jules and Jim is in French with English subtitles and has a running time of 110 minutes.

Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age