Jules and Jim

Jules and Jim (1962) begins in Paris in 1912. Jules, an Austrian, and Jim, a Frenchman, become friends. Then they meet Catherine and the three of them start living together. The First World War puts the two men on opposite sides. When it ends the trio reassembles, and it is no longer the same. The source is Henri-Pierre Roché's novel. He wrote it at seventy four, as his first novel, and it draws heavily on his own life. Truffaut found the book in a second hand shop and thought about it for years. The form is a shop window for the New Wave: freeze frames, rapid narration, archive footage, abrupt jump cuts. Underneath the form is a story spanning twenty five years. Jeanne Moreau plays Catherine. She also sings Le Tourbillon in the film, and that scene is the one people remember. In defending the character, Truffaut always made the same point: the film is not built to judge a woman but to show two men failing to understand her. It runs 106 minutes. Good for: the French New Wave, stories about three people, and formal play. Less good for: Catherine's behaviour is never explained and many viewers find the character opaque. The narration is dense and sometimes gets in front of the scene. The ending arrives abruptly and unprepared.