Jules and Jim

Rating:
Summary: "We played with life and lost."
Review: Francois Truffaut's Jules et Jim was a very popular art-house movie in the early sixties. The black and white French (English subtitled) film follows the friendship of two college students in bohemian Paris beginning in 1912. They meet Catherine, a free spirit who loves to shock people as much as she enjoys both men's love. She marries Jules, but is not satisfied. They reunite with Jim and continue their love triangle.

Jeanne Moreau's Catherine is eternally alluring, selfish, manipulating, and cruel. She is perfect as the siren who plays with men as a cat plays with a mouse. Oscar Werner gives a sympathetic performance as the idealistic and vulnerable Jules, who goes from carefree youth to melancholy middle-age. Henri Serre is well-cast as Jim, more quiet and introspective, yet still helplessly drawn to the enigmatic Catherine.

This is the kind of movie one admires more each time you see it. At first, you are dependent on the subtitles; later you just enjoy the flow of scenes, the gradual change in mood from youthful exuberance to subdued acceptance, and then the stark and tragic, yet inevitable, conclusion. If you like character-driven stories about unconventional people, you'll enjoy Jules and Jim.

Rating:
Summary: Overrated
Review: I got Jules et Jim because I saw 400 Blows, thought it was the best movie, and wanted to see more Truffaut. Unfortunately, Jules and Jim did not have nearly the same greatness of 400 Blows.
Jules and Jim is a love triangle, about two best friends who fall in love with the same woman (Jeanne Moreau) and have a 20-odd year menage a trois. Of course, none of the principles age at all, there is a child whos introduced and then pretty much ignored, and one wonders how three people pay rent when all they seem to do for years and years is sit around in a huge chalet sipping beer, smoking cigarettes and having sex. This is the movies, I can understand these things.
However, what "killed" this movie for me was that underneath the cool cinematography and clever, chic narration, was at heart a very silly love story. Sure, there are famous images, like Therese the kept girl "steam engining" a cigarette. The menage a trois is really just a cheap soap, and thus the "tragedy" seems tacked on and hollow. Jeanne Moreau plays Catherine is a sulky, quite possibly manic-depressive siren, but she's so irresponsible and annoying one can't even sympathize with Jules and Jim for their obsession. Jules (Oskar Werner) and Jim (Henri Serre) are ciphers, and their friendship never quite understandable. In the end, the only way a kind of unconventional love story like this can work is if the characters are either likeable or interesting. Jules, Jim, Catherine, as well as Albert (who seems to criss-cross country lines in pursuit of Catherine -- how did these people get visas?) are neither. The movie's early scenes have a narrator with droll commentary, but this is largely lost in the later, more melodramatic parts of the movie. Catherine finally becomes so unbearable that I literally couldnt stand to see her onscreen anymore.
Basically I think this is a movie that makes the Top Ten lists because "everyone" thinks they should like it. I wonder why. The whole thing reeks of artificiality -- there's screaming and crying aplenty, but the total effect is numbing. For instance, why does Catherine nearly have a nervous breakdown when she can't conceive with Jim? She already has a daughter with Jules. I would gather that in 1961 the film was avant-garde, with a frank storyline of adultery without any moralizing. But I admit that in this case a little moralizing might have done some good: the characters are all so self-absorbed and selfish that glorification of this movie as a great romantic drama seems not only inappropriate but obscene.

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Movie
Review: I had to watch this movie for French class (sans subtitles). By the time this section was over, I had seen the movie seven times and practically knew the whole thing by heart. But rather than getting sick of it, I loved the movie more and more with each viewing. I've even tried to find the soundtrack (of which it is impossible to do so!) The reason I loved this film so much wasn't for its storyline (which is the same old two guys, one woman), but for its enchanting music, wonderful acting, and overall great filming techniques.

If you do watch it, do not watch the pan and scan version (you miss sooooo much of the films magic!) I highly recommend this film.

Rating:
Summary: Dated tedium that does not certify your coolness
Review: I love The 400 Blows. I very much like a couple other Truffaut films. So, hearing that this was one of the foundations of his reputation, I was anxious to see it. What a letdown. This film comes across like an anachronism. Neither of the 2 male leads, Werner or Serre was very believable. Jeanne Moreau comes off a bit better, perhaps because she's beautiful, but this whole film is just mediocre storytelling. Werner's narration didn't seem to fit well somehow and the baggage attached to this film by the affection for certain cultural attitudes of the 60's is pretty irrelevant now.

Rating:
Summary: Review/Truffaut/Jules et Jim
Review: I love this film. Sure, the sexual prowess and primordial impetus behind, well, seemingly everything was enjoyable: the images were sexy. And that is all one could ask from sex appeal in my opinion. But whatever. The real girth of this film is in its politics. It brings compromise down to the community level. Nationalism, commitment to a common man even at the sake of losing a great friend, is no match for Truffaut's ethic. I think his is the braver of the two. Bravo.

Rating:
Summary: What the............
Review: I pride myself with a good appreciation of fine cinema. My collection consists mainly with the works of directors like Bergman, Tarkovsky, Kurasawa, Angelopoulos, Antonioni, Rosellini and Egoyan. Wishing to broaden my appreciation of great cinema I decided to read the reviews written by critics and viewers in the hope of tracking down more great films. "Jules and Jim" had excellent reviews so I decided to buy it. What a dissapointment. I kept saying to myself "am I seeing the same film?" I persisted viewing the film till its conclussion. To give the film a chance I decided to view the film again the next day before writing this review. The only part of the film that was brilliant was the great acting performance of the lead actress. Unfortunately that was not enough to save the film. I found the camera style amateurish, performances by the two male actors boring and the story disjointed. I am sure that at the time the movie was released it received rave reviews but seen today it qualifies as a B grade movie. Don't waste your money. The only reason the film has a great reputation is because of the famous director. Had anyone else been the director, the film would have been a non event.

Rating:
Summary: This film is hilarious!
Review: I saw this movie in college and I was rolling in the aisles! It's full of silly, pretentious French stereotypes, but far from that being annoying, I found it really entertaining. It's so silly it's almost like a parody of itself. It reminds me almost of something by Edward Gorey that's making fun of "high culture" while at the same time showing appreciation for it.

I found it cheesy yet fun along the lines of "Amelie."
Great entertainment for those who don't take themselves too seriously! :)

Rating:
Summary: Pretentious French Crap of the Worst Kind
Review: I shudder whenever I hear or see the title of this piece of merde. It brings back memories of being forced to watch this horrible film as an undergrad.

Where do I start? Well for one thing, its chock full of that horrible artsy-fartsy convention of characters making elliptical pronouncements that have nothing to do with what they're doing on screen at the time. The three lead characters are always moody and confused - no doubt due to the fact that they and their countrymen keep allowing the Germans to kick their butts without putting up much of a fight. You keep thinking there's a better movie about them being captured by the Germans and forced to clean the laterines on "Das Boot"

Its all so angst-ridden, but in that juvenile way that its impossible to be once you realize its all hormones and lack of sex.

And don't get me started on the "wonderfully ambiguous and experimental" relationship between the three. Its straight out of the latest release from Vivid Video, except its done in the most drawn out, pointless and aggravating way. You want to scream, "C'est assez, s'il vous plaît!"

Do yourself a favor - ignore all the glowing reviews by the so-called experts and pass this up. I realize that this will not be a popular review, but if I stop just one person from making the mistake of buying this, it will have been worthwhile.

Rating:
Summary: cela commençait comme un rêve
Review: I was fortunate enough to study this film along with le dernier metro for a unit of my A level course. At first I thought yeah Truffaut some French producer blatantly wont be all that as it was just a part of my A level.... how wrong could I be?! The music I love beyond belief and the whole storyline is absolutely fantastic, anyone to dismiss this film as some lame French attempt at making cinema I would call a philistine and yes i started off as one. Sometimes you might say that to study something ruins the piece but to be honest this is the exception to the rule it has really made me appreciate the stunning techniques that Truffaut uses in creating his masterpieces. It's a film that you can watch again and again and the emotions are still the same - unchanged opinions and the same things amuse you, aggravate you and touch you. there are many little quotes and actions that stay in my memeory - my favourites being when Jim ("DJIM") skips onto the bike in catherine's room; the race on the bridge; the view of the three hanging out of thier windows to talk to each other and their everyday 'mundane' activities that let you into their world little by little. all these tiny pieces add up to make various themes and give the films beautiful characteristics that i havent seen matched in any other film before. the techniques that truffaut uses to encourage you into forming certain ideas are subtle and ingenius. im surprised that his films havent had more global appreciation as they are definately cinematographic masterpieces that i would recommend for everyone. there are so many things that i'd love to say about Jules et Jim - and ive left the majority out because i think thats something for you to see and realise for yourselves...

Rating:
Summary: A haunting magical movie
Review: I'm not normally a big fan of "Art House" movies, but this one is an exception. Telling the tale of two men of different backgrounds who first meet and become fast freinds in 1907 era Paris, and later become involved with an enigmatic woman, it holds your interest as you follow their lives from the carefree days of the early 20th century up through World War one, and into the 1920's where one final act by the woman alters the lives of all three. When I first viewed the movie many years ago, I really didn't pay too much attention to some of the symbolism in it, so it was a pleasure to be able to rediscover it. In one example, we see Cathrine circa 1908 leap off a bridge into the Seine river in order to shock her two male companions. This forshadows her final act; when she drives a car off the end of the same bridge, now bombed out from the war killing herself and one of the male leads. It is images such as these that help to make the film memorable.