Genre:
Drama
Release Date: 05/31/2005
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: French
Sound: DD1
Run Time: 105 Minutes
Flags: Adult Situations, Not For Children
Distributor/Studio: Criterion
Acclaimed French director
François Truffaut's third and, for many viewers, best film is an adaptation of a semi-autobiographical novel by
Henri-Pierre Roché. Set between 1912 and 1933, it stars
Oskar Werner as the German
Jules and
Henri Serre as the Frenchman
Jim, kindred spirits who, while on holiday in Greece, fall in love with the smile on the face of a sculpture. Back in Paris, the smile comes to life in the person of
Catherine (
Jeanne Moreau); the three individuals become constant companions, determined to live their lives to the fullest despite the world war around them. When
Jules declares his love for
Catherine,
Jim agrees to let
Jules pursue her, despite his own similar feelings;
Jules and
Catherine marry and have a child (
Sabine Haudepin), but
Catherine still loves
Jim as well. An influential film that has grown in stature over the decades,
Jules et Jim was often viewed by the counterculture of the 1960s as a cinematic proponent of the free-love movement, but in actuality the picture is a statement against such a way of life. Despite the bond shared by
Jules,
Jim, and
Catherine, their
ménage à trois is doomed to fail; and
Catherine's inability to choose between the two men leads to tragic consequences for all three.
~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
;)
