- Actors: Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner, Henri Serre, Vanna Urbino, Serge Rezvani
- Directors: François Truffaut
- Writers: François Truffaut, Henri-Pierre Roché, Jean Gruault
- Producers: François Truffaut, Marcel Berbert
- Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Language English, French, German
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region 1 (US and Canada DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 2.35:1
- Number of discs: 2
- Classification: PG
- Studio: Criterion
- DVD Release Date: 31 May 2005
- Run Time: 105 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B0007989ZC
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 98,053 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
François Truffaut's third feature, though it's named for the two best friends who become virtually inseparable in pre-World War I Paris, is centred on Jeanne Moreau's Catherine, the most mysterious, enigmatic woman in his career-long gallery of rich female portraits. Adapted from the novel by Henri-Pierre Roché, Truffaut's picture explores the 30-year friendship between Austrian biologist Jules (Oskar Werner) and Parisian writer Jim (Henri Serre) and the love triangle formed when the alluring Catherine makes the duo a trio. Spontaneous and lively, a woman of intense but dynamic emotions, she becomes the axle on which their friendship turns as Jules woos her and they marry, only to find that no one man can hold her. Directed in bursts of concentrated scenes interspersed with montage sequences and pulled together by the commentary of an omniscient narrator, Truffaut layers his tragic drama with a wealth of detail. He draws on his bag of New Wave tricks for the carefree days of youth--zooms, flash cuts, freeze frames--that disappear as the marriage disintegrates during the gloom of the postwar years. Werner is excellent as Jules, a vibrant young man whose slow, melancholy slide into emotional compromise is charted in his increasingly sad eyes and resigned face, while Serre plays Jim as more of an enigma, guarded and introspective. But both are eclipsed in the glare of Moreau's radiant Catherine: impulsive, demanding, sensual, passionate, destructive, and ultimately unknowable. A masterpiece of the French New Wave and one of Truffaut's most confident and accomplished films. --Sean Axmaker
Synopsis
Jules et Jim is Francois Truffaut's intense, beautiful, enigmatic film about the lifelong friendship between two writers--French novelist Jim (Henri Serre) and Austrian children's author Jules (Oskar Werner)--and their mutual love for the eccentric Catherine (Jeanne Moreau). Even its darkest moments, Jules et Jim is movingly alluring as the friendship between the two men paints a meaningful portrait of human understanding and compassion. Like the similarly themed Two English Girls, Truffaut's film is based on a novel by Henri-Pierre Roche.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
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.
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.
37 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
"She is the greatest sweetheart in French cinema. While gangsters and gangs kill each other, she dances in a tutu in a circus, is tortured by a sadist and makes her way through bursts of submachine-gun fire, with thoughts only of love. With trembling lips, wild hair, she ignores what others call 'morals' and lives by and for love. Messieurs, producers and directors, give her a real part and we will have a great film."
Francois Truffaut wrote this of Jeanne Moreau in 1957. Shortly afterwards, when fascination turned to friendship, the burgeoning director's greatest ambition would be to make a film with the woman who had become the most important person in his life.
In JULES ET JIM, Jeanne Moreau's is a performance of touching beauty and lucidity that is unparalleled in cinema. She is Catherine, the woman in love with life, who in turn falls in love with both Jules and Jim (superb performances from Oskar Werner and Henri Serre), amateur scholars, dandies, and the closest of friends. Over the following years, through joy, disillusionment, a world-war and parenthood, the three share a relationship that defines love itself; as Catherine alternates her pledge of devotion from Jules to Jim, and even to other men, our heroes explore a friendship that has been touched by a soul who is "not a woman" but rather "...an apparition".
But Catherine is not "fatale"- rather the very essence of woman, whose divine right it is to live as she pleases, when she pleases, where any potentially ruinous consequences are the unfortunate fruits of an unmitigated love of love itself. Truffaut's art is one that invokes the Goddess, embodied here by an enigma of extraordinary grace and power. His camera laughs with her, cries with her, and encapsulates with amazing dexterity the flow of movement - the whirlwind of life. The theme of JULES ET JIM - a triangular love affair that questions monogamy - is unhindered by any sensuality or sexual intimations. Instead it is a love that is pure, chaste and eternally resonant. The remarkable tact of Truffaut's direction, the refutation of showiness, conveys a cinema of charm and elegance, as the film's mood undulates in accordance with the whims of our great love Jeanne Moreau - from untold joy to the heavy burden that is the awful truth.
JULES ET JIM is a film of harmony and genius, a hymn to life that asks the audience not to judge, but rather to experience and to love. We can relate to the film Truffaut's own words, when, speaking of Nicholas Ray's JOHNNY GUITAR and Howard Hawks' BIG SKY he said: "Anyone who rejects either should never go to the movies again, never see any more films. Such people will never recognize inspiration, poetic intuition, or a framed picture, a shot, an idea, a good film, or even cinema itself."
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Not only a gem of the Nouvelle Vague, Jules et Jim is a cinema great. One of the finest achievements of that most serious of talents, Truffaut, this film is lively and fun from the start; who says a serious cultural experience can't be enjoyable? Jules et Jim is deservedly one of the best-loved art house films ever made.
Although it was her two films with Louis Malle in 1958 that made her a New Wave icon, it was this role that brought Jeanne Moreau perhaps her greatest international acclaim. Not at all like her jazz-soaked, stylish debut with Malle, Jules et Jim nevertheless deals with very Nouvelle Vague concerns, not least the central menage a trois subject matter.
Highly recommended to all film fans.
Although it was her two films with Louis Malle in 1958 that made her a New Wave icon, it was this role that brought Jeanne Moreau perhaps her greatest international acclaim. Not at all like her jazz-soaked, stylish debut with Malle, Jules et Jim nevertheless deals with very Nouvelle Vague concerns, not least the central menage a trois subject matter.
Highly recommended to all film fans.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
good ,but not great.
Easy on the eye and ear..lovely French language and scenery. But the moral side is dubious. IMO.
A fine looking woman, decides to screw, in both senses, the two... Read more
A fine looking woman, decides to screw, in both senses, the two... Read more
Published 7 months ago by M. bayley
Jules and Jim; Jules Et Jim (DVD) (1962)
This was an avant-garde Black and White Film, by Francois Truffaut in 1962, based on a novel by Henri-Pierre Roche. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Derek Vernon-morris
New Wave Classic
One of the most prominent films of the French New Wave; with the scene of the three main characters running across the bridge, arguably being one of the most iconic images of the... Read more
Published 11 months ago by M. Wood
Typically Gallic
Strange, iconic and unforgettable this is most definitely not Hollywood. Beloved of students, this is in turns funny, thought provoking and heartbreaking. A must watch.
Published 17 months ago by Phillip Biro
fusillez moi
I only bought this DVD because I was studying it for A Level french (with Denier Metro). The actors are excellent but for me the frequent flash cuts became annoying, as did... Read more
Published on 3 Dec 2009 by emuholly
Spare me
What is it with this hideous film? It frequently makes top 50 lists and let's face it - it's total rubbish. Read more
Published on 1 Aug 2009 by Mr. J. Carr
Charming and entertaining film
Francois Truffaut's "Jules et Jim" is rightly regarded as one of the classic French films.Although it is in black and white and was made 43 years ago, it still has a freshness... Read more
Published on 20 Nov 2005 by L. Davidson
Vastly over-rated
This film is a favourite with high-school classes and first-year university French classes and I think this is the main reason it is so well-known (not to be confused with... Read more
Published on 29 July 2004 by Harry Belafonte
Don't really see what all the fuss is about
I thought this film was good but a few major flaws stopped it from being a must see.
I felt the friendship between the title characters was insufficiently developed beyond the... Read more
Published on 27 May 2004 by "csashforth"
cela commençait comme un rêve
I was fortunate enough to study this film along with le dernier metro for a unit of my A level course. Read more
Published on 14 May 2004 by kiki
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