Review of Jules and Jim (1962) by Shawne ~ — 09 May 2007

[b]Jules et Jim[/b] is a movie you have to be in just the right mood for to truly appreciate. It's easy enough, in a superficial way, to enjoy its charms and the life lessons writer-director Francois Truffaut layers through his loopy script and even loopier characters, but that's quite different from actually [i]getting[/i] the film. Connecting with it on a visceral level means really getting swept up in the film's boundless energy - it flips through scenes and emotions with an irreverent insouciance all its own, that either appeals to you or doesn't quite work, for whatever reason. I'm afraid I'm in the latter camp, though I do appreciate what Truffaut tried to do here, in the movie he called "a hymn to life", as he mixes and matches moods, tragedy, comedy and love in a film that, whatever else it might be, is a burst of genuine cinematic vibrance.

Jules (Oscar Werner) and Jim (Henri Serre) are inseparable - best buddies who don't even let their growing love for the same woman, Catherine (Jeanne Moreau), come between them. How could they, when the irrepressibly self-absorbed and yet endlessly engaging Catherine is a whirlwind, a force of nature neither of them can withstand? She starts out as Jules' girlfriend, but even after she gives him a young daughter, she grows bored, as she frequently does, and drifts in Jim's direction. Or even that of Albert (Boris Bassiak), who serves as another distraction, another capricious whim for Catherine - another man for her to captivate even as she refuses to ever let either Jules or Jim entirely out of her clutches.

[b]JeJ [/b]is frequently described as one of Truffaut's best films - but what is it about this particular movie that renders it so fascinating, even some forty-five years after its release? Perhaps it's in Truffaut's interesting directorial choices. The plot sounds like it could be made into a noir thriller, dripping with angst and filmed perpetually in shadow, as the characters are locked in a dark web of relationships from which they can never hope to escape. That's certainly an option. Truffaut, however, decides to spurn this approach completely. His movie is - for the most part - jaunty and fast-paced, tripping along on a swell of chirpy instrumentals and hilariously light, comic moments. In effect, Truffaut keeps quite deliberately away from the shadows: from Catherine's first decision to dress up as a (very unconvincing) man as she challenges the boys to a race across a bridge, cheating her way to a win, the director never lets the film get too dark. Even when Jules is clearly pining for his woman, now safely esconsced in the arms of his best friend, there is a detachment, a lightness, that hints just a little at the absurdity of life and the emotional traps of others in which we find ourselves freer than we ever were alone.

Unfortunately, this self-same lightheartedness is what keeps the movie just that little bit less accessible than it needed to be to truly resonate with a wider audience. It's frustrating to want to connect to the characters, but, at crucial moments, always feeling as if you're not quite able to grasp hold of them - Catherine remains an elusive concept, portrayed as an enigma but occasionally coming across as more of an annoying tart. There's little to explain the mysterious hold she has over all her men, and what keeps them coming back to her... even when Jim, who seems to have captured her heart and attention longer than either of his two rivals, resolves to marry the perfectly ordinary girl he's been with all along. Moreau, while an intriguing presence, doesn't quite manage to grab one's heart in a way that would make us believe in Catherine's tremendous power and appeal.

A confection that hides a wealth of darkness and controversy beneath its feather-light veneer, [b]JeJ[/b] moves easily through its almost carnival-like atmosphere of maunfactured cheer - its actors almost puppets against the stark black-and-white backdrop of a world not quite like ours and yet entirely recognisable. It's not for everyone, but it [i]is[/i] worth a shot if you're willing to give yourself over to the bizarre little world Truffaut creates around his title characters.